Smith, Richard (2)

Smith, Richard (2), an English Roman Catholic prelate, was born in Lincolnshire in 1566, and educated at Trinity College, Oxford, and afterwards at Rome. He then completed his studies in Spain, taking his doctor's degree at Valladolid, and in 1603 arrived in England as a missionary. He sided against the Jesuit party, and was opposed by them when named for the bishopric of Chalcedon. On Feb. 4 he was, however, appointed bishop of that diocese. A controversy shortly arose between him and the regulars of his own Church, and Smith was ordered to drop the title of Ordinary of England which he had assumed. In 1629 two proclamations were issued against him, which induced him to leave the kingdom and retire to France. There he exercised his jurisdiction over the English Romanists by vicars-general and other ecclesiastical officers. He experienced the kindness of cardinal Richelieu, who bestowed upon him the abbacy of Charroux; but his successor, Mazarin, withdrew his protection, and deprived him of that position. He afterwards retired to an apartment near the convent of some English nuns in the vicinity of Paris, where he died, March 18, 1655. Smith wrote several works in defense of himself and of popery in his dispute with the regulars. See Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.; Chalmers, Biog. Dict. s.v.; Dodd, Church History, vol. 3; Hook, Eccles. Biog. s.v.