Background
Richard Smith was born in Lincolnshire, England.
Richard Smith was born in Lincolnshire, England.
He studied at Trinity College, Oxford University and in Rome, where he was admitted to the English College in 1586. Between 1598 and 1603 he spend some time in Valladolid, where he became a Doctor of Theology, and in Seville.
He followed William Bishop, who died in 1624. In 1592 Smith was ordained as a priest. From 1603 to 1609 he was chaplain to Viscountess Montague, wife of Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu, at Battle Abbey in Sussex, England.
He left Sussex in 1609 to go to Paris to study and write at Arras College, which had been founded for English priests.
Smith was appointed Apostolic Vicar for the whole of England, Wales and Scotland in 1625. He followed William Bishop, who had held the post for less than a year.
He arrived in England in April 1625, and stayed in Turvey, Bedfordshire, at the house of Lord Montagu. In 1628 a warrant was issued for his arrest.
He resigned his post in 1631, when he fled to Paris.
In Paris Smith lived at first with Cardinal Richelieu until the latter"s death in 1642. He held the title of commendatory abbot of Charroux Abbey, resigning that title in 1648. He died at the Paris priory of English Canonesses Regular of the Lateran, whose founding, under Mother Lettice Mary Tredway, C.R.L. (formally called Lady Treadway), he had supported.