Staff profile

I am 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 widening participation in roles outside of academia.

I am interested broadly in the history of religion and in my current role I research the largely unexplored history of the Capuchin Franciscans. My wider research interests include the history of Franciscanism, the history of the Catholic religious orders, and the history of the Catholic Reformation. 

Between 2021-2024 my research was generously funded by the Capuchin Franciscans of GB, a partnership which has resulted in two monographs published with Bloomsbury and Oxford University Press. Radical Poverty was published in February 2026 with Bloomsbury and reviews described it as 'a meticulously researched and very readable study' that 'fills a critical gap in the historical literature of male religious life'.

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. 

I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an Associate Fellow of Advance HE. I 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 a Senior Editor for the journal Franciscan Studies and have peer-reviewed articles and books for a number of leading presses. 

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 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 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. 

I occasionally publish YouTube videos about my research here.

 

Authored book

• The French Capuchins and the Catholic Reformation in Britain, 1580-1700: Men of Fire and Plague
  
  Temple, L. (in press). The French Capuchins and the Catholic Reformation in Britain, 1580-1700: Men of Fire and Plague. Oxford University Press.
• Radical Poverty: The Capuchins and Catholicism in Britain, 1850-2022
  
  Temple, L. (2026). Radical Poverty: The Capuchins and Catholicism in Britain, 1850-2022. Bloomsbury. https://doi.org/10.5040/9780567717948
• Mysticism in Early Modern England
  
  Temple, L. P. (2019). Mysticism in Early Modern England. Boydell and Brewer.

Chapter in book

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

Edited book

• The Oxford History of British and Irish Catholicism, Volume II: Uncertainty and Change, 1641-1745
  
  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

• Through a glass darkly? Modern Catholicism in Britain and Ireland through the ‘Catholicism in Numbers’ datasets
  
  Temple, L., Harris, A., & Kinnear, T. (2024). Through a glass darkly? Modern Catholicism in Britain and Ireland through the ‘Catholicism in Numbers’ datasets. British Catholic History, 37(1), 43-53. https://doi.org/10.1017/bch.2024.3
• Roundtable discussion: The History of British and Irish Catholicism: Past, Present and Future
  
  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
• Protestant readers of Catholic spirituality in seventeenth-century England
  
  Temple, L. P. (2021). Protestant readers of Catholic spirituality in seventeenth-century England. Catholic Archives, 41, 81-98.
• Mysticism and Identity among the English Poor Clares
  
  Temple, L. P. (2019). Mysticism and Identity among the English Poor Clares. Church History, 88(3), 645-71. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0009640719001811
• ‘Have we any mother Juliana's among us?’: The multiple identities of Julian of Norwich in Restoration England
  
  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
• The Mysticism of Augustine Baker, OSB: A Reconsideration
  
  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
• Returning the English “Mystics” to their Medieval Milieu: Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe and Bridget of Sweden
  
  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

• Pope Francis: an unconventional pontiff who sought to modernise Catholicism
  
  Temple, L. (2025, April 21). Pope Francis: an unconventional pontiff who sought to modernise Catholicism. The Conversation.
• Pope Francis autobiography: we’ve never known so much about the pontiff before
  
  Temple, L. (2025, January 25). Pope Francis autobiography: we’ve never known so much about the pontiff before. The Conversation.
• The unique history of the only person who can preach to the pope
  
  Temple, L. (2024, October 2). The unique history of the only person who can preach to the pope. The Conversation.
• On the orders of St Francis
  
  Temple, L. (2024, September 7). On the orders of St Francis. The Tablet.
• Carlo Acutis: what the first ‘millennial saint’ says about the Catholic church’s future
  
  Temple, L. (2024, May 28). Carlo Acutis: what the first ‘millennial saint’ says about the Catholic church’s future. The Conversation.
• In the footsteps of Francis
  
  Temple, L. (2023, July 26). In the footsteps of Francis. The Tablet.