“Aquinas, Liturgy, Prayer” Lecture to Celebrate 800th Anniversary of Order of Preachers

Celebrating the 800^th anniversary of the Order of Preachers, the Theology/Philosophy Department at Caldwell University will continue its Sister Maura Campbell, O.P., Lecture Series on Feb. 1 with a talk on St. Thomas Aquinas.

Father Innocent Smith, O.P., of St. Vincent Ferrer Priory in New York City will speak on “Aquinas, Liturgy, Prayer” 4 to 5 p.m. in the Alumni Theatre.

Father Smith, O.P., a Dominican friar of the Province of St. Joseph, serves as parochial vicar at the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

He will speak about how St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the most influential theologians in the history of the Catholic Church, was deeply influenced by his life of communal prayer in the Dominican order. He will explore the connection between Thomas’s prayer life and his theological writing, drawing on the rich resources offered throughout the “Summa Theologiae”and the saint’s other writings. The talk will draw from Father Smith’s research for his licentiate of sacred theology thesis “In Collecta Dicitur: The Oration as a Theological Authority for Thomas Aquinas” for which he received the 2015 Circolo San Tommaso d’Aquino Veritas et Amor thesis prize.

Father Smith studied music and philosophy at the University of Notre Dame before entering the Order of Preachers in 2008. He studied theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., and was ordained to the priesthood in May 2015.

The lecture series will continue on Tuesday, April 12, when Sister Judith Miryam Boneski, O.P., will present on “Dominic’s First Daughters: In the Heart of the Holy Preaching.” Sister is director of advancement at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, New Jersey, and is a Caldwell College alumna. The lecture will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Student Center Gym.

The lecture series is named after Sister Maura, who was a Sister of St. Dominic of Caldwell. She was a theologian, philosopher, professor, researcher and national leader in education whose scholarship and teaching spanned 50 years.

For further information, call 973-618-3931.