Innocent Smith, O.P., is Visiting Assistant Professor of Dogmatic Theology and Pastoral Studies at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC. After undergraduate studies in music and philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, he entered the Order of Preachers in 2008 and was ordained priest in 2015. Smith served in parish ministry for several years before completing a doctorate in liturgical studies at the University of Regensburg in 2021. Fr. Innocent’s teaching and research interests include liturgy, sacramental theology, codicology, homiletics and sacred music.

Smith’s 2023 monograph, Bible Missals and the Medieval Dominican Liturgy, focuses on medieval bibles which contain liturgical texts for the celebration of the Mass. The liturgical selections contained in bible missals give precious insight into both the development of the celebration of the liturgy as well as the processes of customization and design of medieval bibles. Bible missals present a fascinating example of the interpenetration of memory and enactment, enabling the celebration of the mysteries articulated in the biblical text.