He joined the Dominican Order at Pisa in 1494. He was involved in the attempted take-over of the Milanese convent of
Sant'Eustorgio by the Observant friars of the Congregation of Lombardy before becoming master of studies at the Dominican studio in Bologna in 1513–4. As inquisitorial vicar in Modena from 1517–9, Spino was involved in prosecuting witches. He wrote against the
Canon Episcopi, arguing based on the findings of the
Inquisition that witches actually flew. Spino served as regent master at S. Domenico in Bologna in the early 1530s. He was appointed (1536) by the
Venetian Senate to the chair of theology at the
University of Padua. He was also for a time
socius 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 by
Pope Paul III, and during the four years that he discharged the duties of that office he rendered services to the
Holy See and to the Fathers of the
Council of Trent, regarding many difficult and mooted questions. As Master of the Sacred Palace, he was said to have wanted to move against Copernicus' , only stopped by his death. Spina denounced a number of other theologians as heretics. These included
Thomas Cajetan, whom he clashed with starting in 1518;
Ambrose Catharinus, whom he accused to
Paul III in 1546; and
Pietro Pomponazzi. == Works ==