Melchor Cano

Melchor Cano (1509–1560) was born at Tarancón in New Castile and entered the Dominican convent of San Esteban at Salamanca in 1523, where he studied under Francisco de Vitoria. He taught at Valladolid and Alcalá, and in 1546 succeeded Vitoria in the principal chair of theology at Salamanca. He attended the Council of Trent in 1551 and 1552, was briefly bishop of the Canary Islands and served as provincial of his order.

His De locis theologicis, published in 1563 after his death, gave theology its first systematic treatment of method. Cano identifies ten sources from which theological arguments are drawn: Scripture, the traditions of Christ and the apostles, the Catholic Church, the councils, the Roman Church, the Fathers, the scholastic theologians, natural reason, the philosophers and human history. He examines the authority and proper use of each, and the work shaped the teaching of fundamental theology for centuries.

The library holds De locis theologicis. Its first book, which lays out the ten sources, gives the plan of the whole work.