Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/590

 MONTESA

5;}4

MONTES

homes for the aged. A new cathedral is contemplated which will be worthy of the city of l^os Angeles.

Santa Barbara Mission Archives; bishop's Archives (Los ,\n- selcs); ENfiEi-iiAUDT, The Franciscans in Cali/ornia (Harbor SprinRS. Mirli.. 1S!)7); Recss. Biogr. Ci/ctop. of the llierarchu of the i'. S. (.Milw!iuki-o. I89S); Catholic Directoru.

Zephyuin Engelhardt.

Montesa, Mii.it.^rt Ordkr of. — This order wjis established in the Kingdom of Aragon to take the place of the Order of the Temple, of which it was in a oiTtain sense the continuation. It derived its title from St. George of Montesa, its principal stronghold. The Templars were received with enthusiasm in Aragon from their very founda- tion (1128). Be- renger III, Count of Barcelona, wished to die in the habit of a Templar (1130). King Alfonso I, "The Fighter", having no direct heir, bequeathed his dominions to be divided among the Templars, the Hospitallers, and the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, but naturally this bequest was an- nulled by his sub- jects (1131). The Templars had to . -,, , be contented with

A Knight of Monte... certaincastles,the

chief of which was Monzon. Although the Aragonese branch of the order was pronounced innocent at the famous trial of the Templars, Clement V's Bull of sup- pression was applied to them in spite of the protests of King James II (1312). By way of compensation, however, this monarch obtained from Pope John XXII authority to dispose of the possessions of the Templars in his Kingdom of Valencia in favour of a mihtary order not essentially differing from that of the Templars, which should be charged with the de- fence of his frontier against the Moors and the pirates. It was affiliated to the Order of Calatrava, from which its first recruits were drawn, and it was maintained in dependence upon that order. The first of the four- teen grand masters, who ruled the Order of Montesa until the office was united with the Crown by Philip II in 1587, was Guillermo d'Eril.

Lamper, Montesa illustrate (Valencia, 1669) ; Definiciones de la orden y cazalleria de Montesa (Valencia, 1573) ; La Fuente, Hist. Eel. de Espana (Madrid, 1874).

Ch. Moeller.

Montesino, Antonio, Spanish missionary, date of birth unknown; d. in the West Indies, 1545. Of his early life httle is known. He entered the Order of St. Dominic and made his religious profession in the con- vent of St. Stephen, Salamanca, where in all probabil- ity he studied. He wa« noted for his exemplary piety, his love of strict observance, his eloquence, and moral courage. In September, 1510, under the leadership of Pedro de Cordova, he landed with the first band of Dominicans in Hispaniola. He was the first, in 1511, to denounce publicly in .\nierica the enslavement and oppression of the Indians ;ls sinful and disgraceful to the Spanish nation. Being censured for this, he was cited to Spain in 1512, where he pleaded the cause of the Indians so .successfully that the king took immedi- ate measures towards ameliorating their condition.

In June, 1526, with Father Anthony de Cervantes, he accompanied several hundred colonists under the leailcrship of .Vyllon to (iuandape, probably where the I'jiglish .subsequently founde(i Jamestown; or, as some are inclined to think, proceeded even as far as New York. In either case, however, we are safe in asserting that Holy Mass was celebrated for the first time in the present territory of the United States by these Dominicans. On the death of Ayllon (Oct., 1526) the colony abandoned the country and re- turned to San Domingo. According to Helps, "Span- ish Conquest in America", he went to Venezuela about 1528 with twenty of his brethren. Nothing more is known of him except the slight information furnished by a note in the margin of the registry of his profession in the convent of St. Stephen at Sala- manca, which says: "Obiit martyr in Indiis". He is the author of "Informatio juridica in Indorum defen- sionem".

Qu^tif-Echard, SS. Ord. Prad., II, 123; Helps, Spanis.- Conquest in America (New York), passim; MacNutt, Life of Las Casas (New York), passim; Touron, Horn, ill, de Vordre S. Dominique. IV (Paris, 1747), 245^8; Shea, History of the Catholic Church in the United Slates, 1 (New York, s. d.), 101-08.

Joseph Schroedek.

Montesinos, Lui.s de, Spanish theologian, date and place cit birth unknown; d. 7 Ort.. 1(121. He en- tered the Doniinic-un Order and .studied philo.sophy and theology in the Spanish universities where he gained a reputation for sound scholarship and solid piety that made him illustrious among the savants of his time. Beginning his career as professor of philosophy, he was gradually promoted to the most important chairs. He was t he foremost exponent of Thomistic theology at the University of AlcaU. His vast erudition, power of penetration, and clearness of exposition won for him the surname Doctor clnrus. He possessed a singular charm of manner which secured for him at once love and respect. Such was his success in teaching that his lecture hall, though one of the largest in Spain, was too small to admit his audiences. P'or thirty years he taught with untiring zeal and devotion, refusing all ecclesiasti<-al honours. Though threatened with total blindness in his latter years, he continued to teach till his death. He is the author of "Commmentaria in primam secundae S. Thom»" (Alcala, 1622).

Joseph Schroedeb.

Montes Pietatis are charitable institutions of credit that lend money at low rates of interest, or without interest at all, upon the security of objects left in pawn, with a view to protecting persons in want from usurers. Being charitable establishments, they lend only to people who are in need of funds to pass through some financial crisis, as in cases of gen- eral scarcity of food, misfortunes, etc. On the other hand, these institutions do not seek financial profit, but use all profits that may accrue to them for the payment of employees and to extend the scope of their charitable work. Formerly there were not only pecuniary montes (numarii) which lent money, but also grain montes (granlatici), flour montes, etc. In the history of these establishments it may be ob- served that the word mons, even in ancient Latin (Plautus, Prudentius), was used to signify a ''great quantity", or heap, with reference to money, while the juridic term for a monetary "fund" was rather 7nassa: and long before the creation of the montes pietatis the word mons (in Italian, monle) was used to designate collected funds, destined to various ends, which in time came to be called montes profani. Thus the public debt that was contracted by the Republic of Venice between 1164 and 1178 was called Mons or Imprestita, and similar montes were created by Genoa (1300) and by Florence (1.345); the stock companies of the Middle Ages, also, were