Michael Smith KC*HS (born 6 June 1940) is the retired

Roman Catholic Bishop of Meath Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He was ordained priest in the Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran on 9 March 1963 by Cardinal Traglia,

Cardinal-Bishop A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. ...

of Albano. He celebrated his first mass on 10 March 1963 in the

Clementine Chapel The Clementine Chapel, also known as La Clementina, is a particular Roman Catholic chapel located within the underground necropolitan grottoes of Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. It is believed to mark the site when Saint Peter was crucified ...

, located under the Altar at Papal Basilica of Saint Peter.

Early life and education

He was born in

Oldcastle, County Meath Oldcastle () is a town in County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the northwest of the county near the border with County Cavan, Cavan, approximately 13 miles (21 km) from Kells, County Meath, Kells. The R154 road, R15 ...

, the son of Bridget Fagan and John Smith and studied for the priesthood at the Irish College in Rome. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

for his native diocese on 9 March 1963 and continued his studies in Rome where he earned a doctorate in canon law. He attended all 168 days of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

for which he and 41 other young priests prepared the official record, having been appointed as a recording secretary to the council immediately after his ordination as a priest. After his return from Rome he served in the Cathedral Parish of Mullingar, as chaplain to St Loman's Hospital and as secretary to the bishop. He was appointed

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of the diocese and

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Leges on 17 November 1983 and was consecrated on 29 January 1984. The

principal consecrator A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, ...

was Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich; his principal co-consecrators were Archbishop

Gaetano Alibrandi Gaetano Alibrandi (14 January 1914 – 3 July 2003) of the Roman Catholic Church was a senior papal diplomat and former Personal Secretary to Giovanni Battista Cardinal Montini (later Pope Paul VI). Biography Born at Castiglione di Sicilia in t ...

, the

Apostolic Nuncio An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

, and

Cahal Daly Cahal Brendan Daly KGCHS (born Charles Brendan Daly, 1 October 1917 – 31 December 2009) was a Roman Catholic cardinal, theologian and writer from County Antrim. Daly served as the Catholic Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from ...

, Bishop of the Diocese of Down and Connor. On 13 October 1988, he was appointed

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

with the right of succession. On 16 May 1990 he succeeded John McCormack on the latter's

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

Episcopal ministry

For much of his time as Bishop of

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

he served as

secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

to the Irish Bishops' Conference and was actively involved in

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

matters. Regarded as a traditional bishop he is well respected both by the people of his

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

and those in public life. He took a keen interest in world affairs and led fund-raising campaigns to assist the victims of earthquakes in South America and victims of the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the sci ...

.
/ref> In October 2006 he travelled to Rome with the other bishops of Ireland for their five-yearly ''ad limina'' visit to the Pope. Smith retired as Bishop of Meath on 18 June 2018

References

External links

Website of the Diocese of Meath
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Michael 1940 births Living people Roman Catholic bishops of Meath Pontifical Irish College alumni Participants in the Second Vatican Council 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland Christian clergy from County Meath People from Oldcastle, County Meath