Montfaucon Bernard de

MONTES PIETATIS: Institutions for the relief of the poor on the principle of the pawnshop, but designed to protect their patrons against usury, though a certain interest was charged to cover expenses. Primarily religious institutions, the montes pietatis later became secularized. They originated in Italy, where the cardinal of Ostia established one at Orvieto in 1463, which was confirmed by Pius II. Leo X., by the constitution Inter multiplices at the tenth session of the fifth Lateran Council (May 4, 1515), gave general approval to the montes pietalis and declared their opponents excommunicated. They soon spread to Lombardy and the continental possessions of Venice, and thence reached France, Germany, Holland,. England, and other countries. [In New York these institutions are represented by the Provident Loan Society, which has been very successful.]

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography: H. Holsapfel, Die Awyjdnpe der Monte* pietatia, Munich, 1903; W. Endemann, in Jahrbücher für National4konomie, i (1863), 324 sqq.; idem, Studien in der romanisch-kanonietischen Wirtadhqfta- and Rechtelehre, i. 460 sqq., Berlin, 1874.

MONTFAUCON; men"f5"can', BERNARD DE: French Maurist; b. at Soulatge (department of Aude, just east of Toulouse, France) Jan. 16, 1655; d. at Paris Dec. 21, 1741. A scion of a noble family, he entered the army in 1672, serving in Turenne's campaign against Germany until 1674. Resuming his studies, he made his profession in the Maurist congregation on May 13, 1676, and after being stationed at Sorcze, La Grasse, and Bordeaux, he was sent, in 1687, to Saint-Germain des Pr6s, the scientific center of his order, where he devoted himself primarily to editing Greek Church Fathers. He published, with the collaboration of J. Lopin and A. Pouget, a single volume of a projected Artalecta Grow give varia opuscula Grmc hactenu8 non edita (Paris, 1688), which he followed by his La Verite de l'hiatoare de Judith (1690). After publishing the best edition of Athanasius thus far made Athanasii archiepiacopi Alexandrini opera omnia (3 vols., Paris, 1698), he went, with his fellow Maurist Paul Briois, to Italy, since the manuscripts at Paris were inadequate for his plans. While at Rome, and being for a period the administrator of his congregation, he wrote his anonymous Vindicim editionis Sancti Augustini a Benedictinis adornata; (Rome, 1699) in answer to Jesuit critics. In 1701 he returned to Paris, where his interests ranged over the literature and all other remains of classical antiquity, as evinced by his Diarium Italwum, sire monumentorum veterum, bibliothecarum, musworum, etc. Notitim singulares (Paris, 1702; Eng. transl., The Travels of Father Montfaucon from Paris 'through Italy . . . , London, 1712). In his Palmographia Grteca (Paris, 1708) he laid the foundations of the science of paleography, while in his Bibliotheca Coisliniana olim Seguzriana (1715) and his Bibliotheca bibliothecarum manuscriptarum nova (1739) he proved his ability as a bibliographer. In his Collectio nova patrum et scriptorum Grocorum (2 vols., Paris, 1706) he published much unedited material, including the commentaries of Eusebius on the Psalms and Isaiah, minor writings of Athanasius, and the Christian geography of Cosmas Indicopleustes. This was followed by an edition of the fragments of the Hexapla-Hexaplorum Origenia qua; aupersunt (2 vols., Paris, 1713; superseded by the work of Frederick Field, q.v.); as well as by a complete edition of Chrysostom (Joannia Chrysostomi opera omnia, 13 vols., Paris, 1734-41). Montfaucon's classical interests found expression in his L'Antiquim expliqu6e et re"enttze en figures (10 vols., Paris, 1719; 5 supplementary vols., 1724; Eng. transl., Antiquity Explained and Represented in Sculptures, 10 vols., London, 1821-25), in which he considered the mythology, religion, and private and social life of the Greeks and Romans, with an account of the religious monuments of the Egyptians, Arabs, Syrians, Persians, Scythians, Germans, Gauls, Spaniards, and Carthaginians. The work was continued for France in his Les Monumens de la many archie françise (5 vols., Paris, 1729-33; partial Eng. transl., A Description of the Basso Relievos

. , London, 1767), of which only the first section, comprising the dynastic monuments to Henry IV., appeared. Among the other works of Montfaucon, who became a member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres in 1719, special mention may be made of his Le Livre de Phidon de la

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vie contemplative . . . allec des observations oil l'on fait voir qtee lee Th&apeutes dont il pane etotent Chr4tiens (Paris, 1709); and Lettres pour et contre sur la fameuse question si lee solitaire, appellez Th6rapeutes . . doient Chr9tien8 (1712). Many of his letters, which are preserved in the BibliotMque Nationale and elsewhere, have been published in Valery's Correspondance in6dite de Mabillon et de Montfaucon avec l'Italie (3 vols., Paris, 1846); U. Capitaine's Correspondanee de Bernard de Montfatccon avec le baron G. de Cramier (Liege, 1855); and E. Gigas's Lettres inkdites de divers savants, vol. ii. (Copenhagen, 1892-93).

(G. Laubmann.)

Bibliography: E. de Broglie, La SoeiW de l'abbaye de Saint-Germain des Pr& au 18. sitcle, especially ii. 311-323, Paris, 1891; R. P. Tessin, Hist. littéraire de la conpr6pation de S. Maur, pp. 585-818, · Brussels, 1770; H. Omont, Bernard do Montfaueon, in Anrwlea du midi, 1892, pp. 84-90; J. B. Vanel, Les B6nbdictina de S. Maur, pp. 112-115, Paris, 1898.