In the sixteenth century, very famous among canonists was the
learned Benedictine, Vilagut. In 1589 he published at Venice his
great work on usury, supporting with much learning and vigour the
most extreme theological consequences of the old doctrine. He
defines usury as the taking of anything beyond the original loan,
and declares it mortal sin; he advocates the denial to usurers of
Christian burial, confession, the sacraments, absolution, and
connection with the universities; he declares that priests
receiving offerings from usurers should refrain from exercising
their ministry until the matter is passed upon by the bishop.
About the middle of the seventeenth century another ponderous folio
was published in Venice upon the same subject and with the same
title, by Onorato Leotardi. So far from showing any signs of
yielding, he is even more extreme than Vilagut had been, and quotes
with approval the old declaration that lenders of money at interest
are not only robbers but murderers.
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