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St. Mary's Seminary & University

Rev. Innocent Smith, O.P.

Rev. Innocent Smith, O.P. Assistant Professor of Homiletics

ismith [at] stmarys.edu

410/864-5803

Curriculum vitae

Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P. was born in California and raised in Indiana. He discerned a vocation to the Dominicans while studying music and philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and joined the St. Joseph Province of the Order of Preachers in 2008. After the novitiate in Cincinnati and philosophy and theology studies at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Fr. Innocent was ordained to the priesthood in 2015 by Archbishop Charles Brown.

From 2015 to 2018, Fr. Innocent served as parochial vicar at the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York City, where he was in charge of adult formation and RCIA, and assisted with the renewal of the music program at the parish. He also served as the parish chaplain for the Frassati Fellowship of New York City. From 2018 to 2021, Fr. Innocent was assigned to the Priory of St. Kajetan in Munich, Germany, while he wrote a doctoral dissertation in liturgical studies at the University of Regensburg. He also assisted with Masses and confessions at the Theatinerkirche in Munich. Fr. Innocent joined the faculty of St. Mary’s Seminary & University in 2021 as Assistant Professor of Homiletics, and resides at the nearby Dominican community of Sts. Philip and James in Baltimore.

Fr. Innocent’s teaching and research interests include homiletics, liturgy, sacramental theology, ecclesiology, and sacred music. His S.T.L. thesis, “In Collecta Dicitur: The Oration as a Theological Authority for Thomas Aquinas,” explored the importance of the liturgy as a source for scholastic theology. His doctoral dissertation, “Doers of the Word: Bible Missals and the Celebration of the Dominican Liturgy,” focused on medieval manuscripts of the Bible that also contain liturgical texts for the celebration of Mass. Fr. Innocent examined manuscripts at libraries and museums throughout Europe and North America that form an important but previously understudied body of evidence for understanding the liturgical reception of the Bible and the development of the liturgy in the Middle Ages. In addition to publishing popular and scholarly articles related to theology, liturgy, and music, Fr. Innocent has edited chant books that make the musical and liturgical tradition of the Dominican Order available for use in the contemporary liturgy.

In 2015, Fr. Innocent was appointed a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis, and he has exercised this ministry in the form of parish missions, retreat preaching, and confessional ministry. He has given lectures and workshops on liturgy and chant for a variety of lay, religious, and clerical audiences, including communities of active and contemplative religious women as well as young adult groups. In addition to his communal life and ministry, Fr. Innocent enjoys playing Irish traditional music on the wooden flute; bicycling; reading German and English literature; and attending concerts, opera and the ballet.

Selected Courses Taught

Service to the Church

Selected Publications

Recommended Reading

A Favorite Quotation

But learn, O monk, that the outcome of a human life converges from endless sources, so that if you do not see which little creeks feed into a great river, and yet wish to understand the river’s greatness, you must come to know each brook. — Ernest Krenek, Karl V