Staff profile

I am an Assistant Professor (Research) in the History of Catholicism. Between 2021 and 2024 I was the postdoctoral Capuchin Fellow in the History of Catholicism at Durham. Before this I had taught at Durham, Northumbria and Sunderland as an Associate Lecturer and had also developed my skills in community engagement and digital design in roles outside of academia.

I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I also currently serve on the executive committee of the Catholic Record Society. Between 2019 and 2023 I served on the committee for The History of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland (H-WRBI). 

I am interested broadly in the history of religion and in my current role I research the largely unexplored history of the Capuchin Franciscans. Between 2021-2024 my research was generously funded by the Capuchin Franciscans of GB, a partnership which has resulted in two monographs to be published with Bloomsbury and Oxford University Press. From 2024 onwards a new project on the history of the Capuchins and Catholicism in Australia has been generously funded by the Australian Capuchins, the outcome of which will be an additional monograph. 

My wider research interests include the history of Franciscanism, the history of the Catholic religious orders, and the history of the Catholic Reformation. 

My PhD research explored mysticism and mystical experience in both Catholic and Protestant groups in early modern England. It has focused on examples of how mysticism encouraged conversation and spiritual collaboration across confessional boundaries in the period. This research culminated in my first monograph which was published with Boydell and Brewer in 2019. Reviewers have described the work as ‘a ground-breaking study’ (Journal of Ecclesiastical History), as ‘impressive for … its mastery of historical scholarship’ (Seventeenth-Century News), and as ‘well-written and lucidly argued’ (British Catholic History).

I have also recently worked with Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, former Preacher to the Papal Household, on the English edition of his papal sermons, published in 2024 as Faith, Hope, and Charity. I have written articles for The Tablet and The Conversation, and also contributed to radio programmes in Australia and New Zealand on my research. 

 

 

Authored book

• Temple, L. Radical Poverty: The Capuchins and Catholicism in Britain, 1850-2021. Bloomsbury
• Temple, L. The Capuchins, Transnational Catholicism, and Britain, 1580-1700. Oxford University Press
• Temple, L. P. (2019). Mysticism in Early Modern England. Boydell & Brewer

Chapter in book

• Temple, L. (2024). The Capuchin Friars in England and the Franciscan Centenary Celebrations of 1924. In B. Abbot (Ed.), Celebrating 800 Years of Franciscans in the British Isles (71-94). Franciscan Publishing
• Temple, L. P. (2019). George Herbert. In Protestants and Mysticism in Reformation Europe (328-48). Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004393189_018

Edited book

• Morrill, J., & Temple, L. (Eds.). (2023). The Oxford History of British and Irish Catholicism, Volume II: Uncertainty and Change, 1641-1745. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198843436.001.0001

Journal Article

• Temple, L., Harris, A., & Kinnear, T. (in press). Through a glass darkly? Modern Catholicism in Britain and Ireland through the ‘Catholicism in Numbers’ datasets. British Catholic History,
• Temple, L. (2023). Roundtable discussion: The History of British and Irish Catholicism: Past, Present and Future. British Catholic History, 36(3), 255-279. https://doi.org/10.1017/bch.2023.4
• Temple, L. P. (2021). Protestant readers of Catholic spirituality in seventeenth-century England
• Temple, L. P. (2019). Mysticism and Identity among the English Poor Clares. Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture, 88(3), 645-71. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0009640719001811
• Temple, L. P. (2017). ‘Have we any mother Juliana's among us?’: The multiple identities of Julian of Norwich in Restoration England. British Catholic History, 33(3), 383-400. https://doi.org/10.1017/bch.2017.3
• Temple, L. P. (2017). The Mysticism of Augustine Baker, OSB: A Reconsideration. Reformation & Renaissance Review, 19(3), 213-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/14622459.2017.1387382
• Temple, L. P. (2016). Returning the English “Mystics” to their Medieval Milieu: Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe and Bridget of Sweden. Women's Writing, 23(2), 141-158. https://doi.org/10.1080/09699082.2015.1055695

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Temple, L. (2024). The unique history of the only person who can preach to the pope. https://theconversation.com/the-unique-history-of-the-only-person-who-can-preach-to-the-pope-239903
• Temple, L. (2024). On the orders of St Francis. The Tablet
• Temple, L. (2024). Carlo Acutis: what the first ‘millennial saint’ says about the Catholic church’s future. [https://theconversation.com/carlo-acutis-what-the-first-millennial-saint-says-about-the-catholic-churchs-future-231086]
• Temple, L. (2023). In the footsteps of Francis. [https://www.thetablet.co.uk/features/2/23369/in-the-footsteps-of-francis]