Canon Smith is a native of Greenville, South Carolina. He was received into the Catholic Church at the age of 13 at St. Mary’s. After graduating from Southside High School, he attended Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. He later spent a year living in Rome and studying at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross before entering priestly formation at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary—the Pope’s own seminary—for service in the Diocese of Charleston. While in Rome, he obtained a licentiate in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and studied French at the Institut Catholique in Paris.
Canon Smith was ordained a deacon by Camillo Cardinal Ruini, Papal Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, on 30 October 2004 and a priest by Bishop Robert Baker of Charleston on 23 July 2005.
His early priestly ministry included assignments at St. Mary’s in Greenville as Parochial Vicar and Administrator pro tempore, followed by similar roles at St. Peter’s in Beaufort and Holy Cross on St. Helena’s Island. He later served at St. Francis-by-the-Sea on Hilton Head Island. In each parish, he was deeply involved in Hispanic Ministry, parochial school chaplaincy and teaching, and ministry to the sick. During this time, he also pursued an M.B.A. at The Citadel. Canon Smith has collaborated with the Church in Istanbul, Turkey, providing pastoral care as a missionary priest.
In 2009, Bishop Guglielmone assigned him to doctoral studies at the University of Navarre in Pamplona, Spain. He completed and defended his dissertation on the theology of twentieth-century French Jesuit Henri de Lubac in June 2012, earning the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology.
Canon Smith speaks Spanish, Italian, French, and some German. He has also studied Arabic at Al-Qalam Academy in Granada, Turkey at the Royal Turkish Language Schools in Istanbul, and Syriac at the Oriental Institute of Oxford University during a sabbatical in 2021.
In 2024, Canon Smith was installed as an Honorary Canon of the Cathedral-Basilica of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul, Turkey. He is currently completing the Certificate of School Management and Leadership through the Harvard Business School and Graduate School of Education.
Canon Smith enjoys reading, kickboxing, and music. He is a member of the Church Music Association of America and contributes regularly to its Chant Café blog. He is also a member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the Society for Catholic Liturgy, to which he was elected in 2013. In 2014, he was received into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem as a Chaplain. In 2024, he was appointed Chaplain of Merit to the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George and serves as Chaplain to the Real Circolo Francesco II Borbone.
On 10 February 2015, Canon Smith was appointed Pastor of Prince of Peace Catholic Church and School.
