Whether One May Give Alms Out of Ill-gotten Goods?
Objection 1: It would seem that one may give alms out of ill-gotten
goods. For it is written (Luke 16:9): "Make unto you friends of the
mammon of iniquity." Now mammon signifies riches. Therefore it is
lawful to make unto oneself spiritual friends by giving alms out of
ill-gotten riches.
Obj. 2: Further, all filthy lucre seems to be ill-gotten. But the
profits from whoredom are filthy lucre; wherefore it was forbidden
(Deut. 23:18) to offer therefrom sacrifices or oblations to God:
"Thou shalt not offer the hire of a strumpet . . . in the house
of . . . thy God." In like manner gains from games of chance are
ill-gotten, for, as the Philosopher says (Ethic. iv, 1), "we take
such like gains from our friends to whom we ought rather to give."
And most of all are the profits from simony ill-gotten, since thereby
the Holy Ghost is wronged. Nevertheless out of such gains it is
lawful to give alms. Therefore one may give alms out of ill-gotten
goods.
Obj. 3: Further, greater evils should be avoided more than lesser
evils. Now it is less sinful to keep back another's property than to
commit murder, of which a man is guilty if he fails to succor one who
is in extreme need, as appears from the words of Ambrose who says (Cf.
Canon _Pasce_ dist. lxxxvi, whence the words, as quoted, are taken):
"Feed him that dies of hunger, if thou hast not fed him, thou hast
slain him". Therefore, in certain cases, it is lawful to give alms of
ill-gotten goods.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Verb. Dom. xxxv, 2): "Give alms
from your just labors. For you will not bribe Christ your judge, not
to hear you with the poor whom you rob . . . Give not alms from
interest and usury: I speak to the faithful to whom we dispense the
Body of Christ."
_I answer that,_ A thing may be ill-gotten in three ways. In the
first place a thing is ill-gotten if it be due to the person from
whom it is gotten, and may not be kept by the person who has obtained
possession of it; as in the case of rapine, theft and usury, and of
such things a man may not give alms since he is bound to restore them.
Secondly, a thing is ill-gotten, when he that has it may not keep it,
and yet he may not return it to the person from whom he received it,
because he received it unjustly, while the latter gave it unjustly.
This happens in simony, wherein both giver and receiver contravene
the justice of the Divine Law, so that restitution is to be made not
to the giver, but by giving alms. The same applies to all similar
cases of illegal giving and receiving.
Thirdly, a thing is ill-gotten, not because the taking was unlawful,
but because it is the outcome of something unlawful, as in the case
of a woman's profits from whoredom. This is filthy lucre properly so
called, because the practice of whoredom is filthy and against the
Law of God, yet the woman does not act unjustly or unlawfully in
taking the money. Consequently it is lawful to keep and to give in
alms what is thus acquired by an unlawful action.
Reply Obj. 1: As Augustine says (De Verb. Dom. 2), "Some have
misunderstood this saying of Our Lord, so as to take another's
property and give thereof to the poor, thinking that they are
fulfilling the commandment by so doing. This interpretation must be
amended. Yet all riches are called riches of iniquity, as stated in
_De Quaest. Ev._ ii, 34, because "riches are not unjust save for
those who are themselves unjust, and put all their trust in them. Or,
according to Ambrose in his commentary on Luke 16:9, "Make unto
yourselves friends," etc., "He calls mammon unjust, because it draws
our affections by the various allurements of wealth." Or, because
"among the many ancestors whose property you inherit, there is one
who took the property of others unjustly, although you know nothing
about it," as Basil says in a homily (Hom. super Luc. A, 5). Or, all
riches are styled riches "of iniquity," i.e., of "inequality,"
because they are not distributed equally among all, one being in
need, and another in affluence.
Reply Obj. 2: We have already explained how alms may be given out of
the profits of whoredom. Yet sacrifices and oblations were not made
therefrom at the altar, both on account of the scandal, and through
reverence for sacred things. It is also lawful to give alms out of
the profits of simony, because they are not due to him who paid,
indeed he deserves to lose them. But as to the profits from games of
chance, there would seem to be something unlawful as being contrary
to the Divine Law, when a man wins from one who cannot alienate his
property, such as minors, lunatics and so forth, or when a man, with
the desire of making money out of another man, entices him to play,
and wins from him by cheating. In these cases he is bound to
restitution, and consequently cannot give away his gains in alms.
Then again there would seem to be something unlawful as being against
the positive civil law, which altogether forbids any such profits.
Since, however, a civil law does not bind all, but only those who are
subject to that law, and moreover may be abrogated through desuetude,
it follows that all such as are bound by these laws are bound to make
restitution of such gains, unless perchance the contrary custom
prevail, or unless a man win from one who enticed him to play, in
which case he is not bound to restitution, because the loser does not
deserve to be paid back: and yet he cannot lawfully keep what he has
won, so long as that positive law is in force, wherefore in this case
he ought to give it away in alms.
Reply Obj. 3: All things are common property in a case of extreme
necessity. Hence one who is in such dire straits may take another's
goods in order to succor himself, if he can find no one who is
willing to give him something. For the same reason a man may retain
what belongs to another, and give alms thereof; or even take
something if there be no other way of succoring the one who is in
need. If however this be possible without danger, he must ask the
owner's consent, and then succor the poor man who is in extreme
necessity.
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