Scott L. Smith Jr. | |
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Born | Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. | 26 May 1983
Occupation | Author, Attorney |
Alma mater | |
Notable works | Pray the Rosary with Saint John Paul II, Lord of the Rings and the Eucharist |
Spouse | Sara Ashton LaGrone |
Children | 5 |
Scott L. Smith Jr. (born 26 May 1983) is a Catholic American author and attorney. [1] Smith is the author of several books of Catholic theology and devotion including Consecration to St. Joseph for Children and Families co-authored with Fr. Donald Calloway, Pray the Rosary with St. John Paul II, The Catholic ManBook, and a new translation of the Preparation for Total Consecration according to Saint Louis de Montfort . He currently serves as the Chairman of the Men of the Immaculata. [2] [3] [4]
Smith graduated from Edmond Memorial High School in 2001 and Texas A&M University in 2006 with a degree in chemical engineering. [5] He then entered the Jesuit Novitiate in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. Smith received his Masters in Theology at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he studied under Dr. Brant J. Pitre. He received his juris doctor from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center of Louisiana State University in 2013. [6]
Smith served as an Assistant Attorney General with the Office of the Louisiana Attorney General from 2015 to 2019 before entering private practice. [7]
Smith lives in New Roads, Louisiana with his wife Sara Ashton LaGrone and their five children. [8] He is a 13th generation resident of New Roads, Louisiana, seat of Pointe Coupee Parish. Smith's ancestor Jean Baptiste Pourciau immigrated to Pointe Coupee Parish in 1720 from the Diocese of Cambrai, France. [9]
In 2010, Smith began a series of articles exploring the Lembas waybread as a symbol for the Eucharist in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. [10] The Lembas, for example, originated as a waybread for the Elves' Great Journey to the Undying Lands, as the Manna was the waybread for the Israelites during the Exodus to the Promised Land. [11] [12] These articles were eventually published as an anthology entitled Lord of the Rings and the Eucharist. [13] Actor Kevin O'Brien, who has portrayed J. R. R. Tolkien on EWTN and elsewhere, narrated the audiobook version of Lord of the Rings and the Eucharist. [14]
Since 2010, Smith has worked as freelance essayist and lecturer on Biblical topics, including typology, Mariology, and Biblical references in contemporary books and movies. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] Smith has written extensively on the Virgin Mary and is a frequent lecturer on the subject. [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]
Smith has written on Catholic and Christian themes appearing in comics, science fiction, and current movies. [31] [32] [33] [34] A collection of his articles on these topics was recently published as The Theology of Sci-Fi: The Christian's Guide to the Galaxy.
In 2018, Smith collaborated with Louisiana historian Brian J. Costello on a series of biographies of holy men and beatified people, entitled Blessed Is He Who ...: Models of Catholic Manhood.
As of 2019, Smith is serving as the co-host of the Catholic Nerds Podcast. [35] [36] On Episode 5, the Catholic Nerds interviewed Zac Mabry, who played "Porky" in the 1994 film The Little Rascals , about his conversion to Catholicism. [37] [38]
Smith co-authored with Fr. Donald Calloway the Consecration to St. Joseph for Children and Families. [39]
As a pioneer of the Catholic Horror subgenre, Smith is also the author of several horror novels, including The Seventh Word and The Cajun Zombie Chronicles. [40] His novels are all set in a fictionalized version of his hometown of New Roads, Louisiana.
Smith's blog was awarded the 2018 Fisher's Net award for "Best Blog". [41]
The Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. Christians believe that the rite was instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper, the night before his crucifixion, giving his disciples bread and wine. Passages in the New Testament state that he commanded them to "do this in memory of me" while referring to the bread as "my body" and the cup of wine as "the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many". According to the Synoptic Gospels this was at a Passover meal.
The Rosary, also known as the Dominican Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or beads used to count the component prayers. When referring to the prayer, the word is usually capitalized ; when referring to the prayer beads as an object, it is written with a lower-case initial letter.
Mass is the main Eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term Mass is commonly used in the Catholic Church, Western Rite Orthodoxy, Old Catholicism, and Independent Catholicism. The term is used in some Lutheran churches, as well as in some Anglican churches. The term is also used, on rare occasion, by other Protestant churches.
Pointe Coupee Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,758. The parish seat is New Roads.
New Roads is a city in and the parish seat of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, United States. The center of population of Louisiana was located in New Roads in 2000. The population was 4,831 at the 2010 census, down from 4,966 in 2000. The city's ZIP code is 70760. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The epiclesis refers to the invocation of one or several gods. In ancient Greek religion, the epiclesis was the epithet used as the surname given to a deity in religious contexts. The term was borrowed into the Christian tradition, where it designates the part of the Anaphora by which the priest invokes the Holy Spirit upon the Eucharistic bread and wine in some Christian churches. In most Eastern Christian traditions, the Epiclesis comes after the Anamnesis ; in the Western Rite it usually precedes. In the historic practice of the Western Christian Churches, the consecration is effected at the Words of Institution though during the rise of the Liturgical Movement, many denominations introduced an explicit epiclesis in their liturgies.
The teachings of Pope John Paul II are contained in a number of documents. It has been said that these teachings will have a long-lasting influence on the Church.
Eucharistic theology is a branch of Christian theology which treats doctrines concerning the Holy Eucharist, also commonly known as the Lord's Supper. It exists exclusively in Christianity and related religions, as others generally do not contain a Eucharistic ceremony.
The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass "the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross, is present and offered in an unbloody manner". The Church describes the Mass as the "source and summit of the Christian life", and teaches that the Mass is a sacrifice, in which the sacramental bread and wine, through consecration by an ordained priest, become the sacrificial body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ as the sacrifice on Calvary made truly present once again on the altar. The Catholic Church permits only baptised members in the state of grace to receive Christ in the Eucharist.
God Alone was the motto and the title of the collected writings of Saint Louis de Montfort, one of the leading figures in the French school of spirituality and Roman Catholic Mariology.
Throughout history, Catholic Mariology has been influenced by a number of saints who have attested to the central role of Mary in God's plan of salvation. The analysis of Early Church Fathers continues to be reflected in modern encyclicals. Irenaeus vigorously defended the title of "Theotokos" or Mother of God. The views of Anthony of Padua, Robert Bellarmine and others supported the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, which was declared a dogma in 1850.
The Mariology of the popes is the theological study of the influence that the popes have had on the development, formulation and transformation of the Roman Catholic Church's doctrines and devotions relating to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A number of prayers to Jesus Christ exist within the Roman Catholic tradition. These prayers have diverse origins and forms. Some were attributed to visions of saints, others were handed down by tradition.
The Eucharist in the Lutheran Church refers to the liturgical commemoration of the Last Supper. Lutherans believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, affirming the doctrine of sacramental union, "in which the body and blood of Christ are truly and substantially present, offered, and received with the bread and wine."
Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, TOSD was a French Roman Catholic priest and confessor. He was known in his time as a preacher and was made a missionary apostolic by Pope Clement XI.
Brian James Costello is an American historian, author, archivist and humanitarian. He is an 11th generation resident of New Roads, Louisiana, seat of Pointe Coupee Parish. He is three-quarters French and one-quarter Italian in ancestry.
Christianity is a central theme in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional works about Middle-earth, but always a hidden one. This allows the book to be read at different levels, and its meaning to be applied by the reader, rather than forcing a single meaning on the reader.
Donald Calloway, MIC is an American author and Catholic priest in the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. He is known for his conversion story and his 2020 book, Consecration to St. Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father.
Catholic Nerds is a Catholic podcast created by author Scott L. Smith, Jr., the husband and wife team of Cody Reed and Mary Reed, and Colby Allen.
The Men of the Immaculata (MOTI) was founded in 2017 in the Diocese of Baton Rouge. It is an organization that hosts annual Catholic men's conferences. Scott L. Smith, Jr. is currently serving as the Chairman of the Men of the Immaculata.
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