Bartolomeo Spina (born at Pisa about 1475; died at

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, 1546) was an Italian Dominican theologian and scholastic philosopher.

Life

He joined the Dominican Order at Pisa in 1494. He was involved in the attempted take-over of the Milanese convent of

Sant'Eustorgio The Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio is a church in Milan in northern Italy, which is in the Basilicas Park city park. It was for many years an important stop for pilgrims on their journey to Rome or to the Holy Land, because it was said to contain t ...

by the Observant friars of the Congregation of Lombardy before becoming master of studies at the Dominican studio in Bologna in 1513–4. He served as inquisitorial vicar in Modena from 1517–9, where he was involved in prosecuting witches, and then regent master at S. Domenico in Bologna in the early 1530s. He was appointed (1536) by the

Venetian Senate The Senate ( vec, Senato), formally the ''Consiglio dei Pregadi'' or ''Rogati'' (, la, Consilium Rogatorum), was the main deliberative and legislative body of the Republic of Venice. Establishment The Venetian Senate was founded in 1229, or le ...

to the chair of theology at the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...

. He was also for a time ''

socius Socius may refer to: * Socii, of the Roman Republic in classical times * a Latin noun meaning "comrade, friend, ally" (adjectival form: ''socialis'') and used to describe a bond or interaction between parties that are friendly, or at least civil; ...

'' of the Master-General of the Order of Preachers, and prior provincial of the Holy Land. In July, 1542, he was made

Master of the Sacred Palace In the Roman Catholic Church, Theologian of the Pontifical Household ( la, Pontificalis Domus Doctor Theologus) is a Roman Curial office which has always been entrusted to a Friar Preacher of the Dominican Order and may be described as the pope's ...

by Pope Paul III, and during the four years that he discharged the duties of that office he rendered services to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

and to the Fathers of the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described a ...

, regarding many difficult and mooted questions. As Master of the Sacred Palace, he was said to have wanted to move against Copernicus' De revolutionibus, only stopped by his death. From the year 1518 Spina was engaged in a heated controversy with his famous confrère,

Cardinal Cajetan Thomas Cajetan (; 20 February 14699 August 1534), also known as Gaetanus, commonly Tommaso de Vio or Thomas de Vio, was an Italian philosopher, theologian, cardinal (from 1517 until his death) and the Master of the Order of Preachers 1508 to 151 ...

. Still more harsh was his opposition to Ambrose Catharinus, whom he denounced as guilty of heresy to

Paul III Pope Paul III ( la, Paulus III; it, Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death in November 1549. He came to ...

about the beginning of the year 1546.

Works

The most important of Spina's works are: *"Tutela Veritatis de Immortalitate Animæ contra Petrum Pomponatium" and *"Flagellum in Tres Libros Apologiæ Pomponatii de Immortalitate Animæ", both published in 1518. Of special interest are also *"Tractatus de Strigibus et Lamiis" (Venice, 1523), and *"Apologiæ Tres adversus Joann. Franc. Ponzinibium Jurisperitum" (Venice, 1525). He also edited many works of

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

, including his commentary on the Physics, Metaphysics, and logical works, as well as some of his Biblical commentaries (Matthew, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Lamentations). In his treatise "De Conceptione B. Mariæ Virg." (Venice, 1533), Spina opposed the doctrine of the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...

References

*Alva y Astorga, ''Monumenta Dominicana: pro immac. concept. ''(Louvain, 1666), 4 sq.; *

Jacques Échard Jacques Échard (22 September 1644, in Rouen – 15 March 1724, in Paris) was a French Dominican and historian of the order. As the son of a wealthy official of the king he received a thorough classical and secular education. He entered the Domin ...

, ''Script. Ord. Prœd.'', II, 126 sq.; * *

Hugo von Hurter The von Hurter family belonged to the Swiss nobility; in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries three of them were known for their conversions to Roman Catholicism, their ecclesiastical careers in Austria and their theological writings. Friedri ...

, ''Nomenclator''. ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Spina, Bartolommeo 1546 deaths Italian Dominicans Scholastic philosophers 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians Year of birth uncertain