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Visitors to Italy from Britain are often amused to find a bank called ‘The Bank of the Holy Spirit’, and yet the origins of this and other banks were both spiritual and pragmatic.

Luigino Bruni, an economist and expert on the Focolare project ‘The Economy of Communion’, traces the charismatic origins of many modern-day economic ideas.

History, along with civil and economic life, can be interpreted as a dynamic between charism and institution. The theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar proposed a vision of the Church as dialogue, a dynamic between different ‘profiles’ or ‘principles’ that are linked to the charisms of certain people at the Church’s beginning. For instance, two basic profiles are the Petrine and the Marian.

 

Market Scene, anonymous, 15th Century, Castle of Issogne, Aosta, Italy

The Petrine principle highlights above all the institutional, hierarchical, juridical and objective side of Church life, while the Marian principle reveals its charismatic, horizontal and fraternal nature. These principles are not in conflict, but are in a vital, complementary relationship. Von Balthasar says that the history of the Church can be narrated by weaving together these two essential dimensions. It is a history of institutions and charisms.

I am convinced that this vision of the Church can also be applied to the economic and civil dynamics of humanity. Just as there is (or at least, was) a tendency to emphasize the institutional aspect of the Church, similarly, while interpreting the civil and economic life of humanity, there is often the tendency to see only the institutional aspects and to overlook the role played by charisms.

We often narrate history in terms of great events, political treaties and wars. In economics we narrate the economy of big business enterprises and bankers: Marco Polo and the maritime republics of Venice and Genoa, the discovery of America and the influx of gold, inflation crises and colonial expansion. But we overlook other economies and histories, which I refer to in this article as ‘charismatic’, since they arose from religious and civil charisms. If we make this mistake, we are neglecting fundamental elements in understanding the history of societies and of economics.

Monasticism
One important example is monasticism. The Benedictine rule of ora et labora (prayer and work) meant much more than a mere individual spirituality. Down the centuries Benedictine culture became a true culture of work and economics. In the Greek and Roman world, in fact, those who studied did not work, and those who worked were generally uncultured slaves. The charism of St Benedict, not by chance declared patron saint of Europe, reunited these two dimensions of human life: spirituality and work.
The charism of Benedict and other founders was decisive for the emergence of a market economy. Because of the monasteries’ work and commercial experience, the ethical legitimization of economic activity was created—a decisive element for the start of modern economics.

The Franciscans

Another example is the Franciscan charism, which also played a significant role in the modern market economy. This charism represents a very important moment in the history of economics and Western society. It also represents a paradox: a charism that is based on ‘sister poverty’, on a real detachment from goods and money, became the first economic ‘school’, giving rise to the spirit of the market economy.

Francis of Assisi was the son of a merchant and a merchant himself. However, he quickly became critical of money and of a world regulated by money. Adamantly espousing free giving and underlining the immeasurable value of precious resources (what would ‘brother sun’ or ‘sister water’ cost?), his charism was the most radical in history.

This charism gave rise in Italy to the monti di pietà (pawnbrokers) during the second half of the 15th century, initially in Italy, then in the rest of Europe. The emergence of these was principally inspired by the idea of fraternity, not by a mere economic motive. It was aimed at liberating people from moneylenders and misery.
They used to say that a whole city was poor if one of its citizens was poor. The first banks came into being as a cure for poverty. To ‘cure’ misery meant to cure the entire city; it meant healing the whole civic body! We cannot be happy when surrounded by unhappy people: real happiness is public good. So the emergence of the first modern banks was inspired by fraternity and love for the needy. Most of today’s microfinance—the Yunus model, for instance—is unaware that it benefiting from St Francis’s charism.

In the centuries that followed, charisms gave rise to South American reducciones (Jesuit missions), the first hospitals, free schools and charities. The first work contract to protect minors was drawn up by St John Bosco, whose charism emerged out of love for teenagers and youth.

Not just saints

Charismatic history is not limited to the saints. There is also a charismatic principle at work in humanity, in people who are not explicitly religious but who are inspired by their spirituality and the idea of giving freely.
One of these is the Cooperative Movement, which started in Britain in the 19th century, wanted to offer a non-capitalist alternative to the market economy and gave rise to cooperatives based on a spirit of brotherhood.

Charismatic economics is not just limited to our Western world. When Gandhi began his Salt March on March 12, 1930, it was a milestone for India, setting in motion a revolution that emerged from the Gandhian charism.

Economic and civil history would not have been the same without these great charisms and economic experiences arising from callings that brought about important effects for civilization, such as economies. They continue to exert their influence to this very day.

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Charismatic economies are:

1. Idealistic: The motive behind such experiences is neither primarily nor exclusively the pursuit of individual advantage. The founders or animators of these experiences are motivated by civic zeal, which is stronger than the attraction of mere economic pursuits.

2. Reciprocal: Their founding principle is neither altruism, nor philanthropy, but reciprocity, which in practice is often expressed in terms of solidarity, mutuality and even fraternity.

3. Not just a means: Economic activity that emerges from a charism is never just a means, but an end in itself.

4. Community Based: Charismatic experiences come into being on the communal level, from people who enter spontaneously into associations. They are experiences of free people.

5. Concrete: They come into being to answer concrete problems of justice and equity, not from abstract theories. The experience begins in order to meet some kind of need for individuals or the community.

 

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