New book "Radical Poverty" on the Capuchins and Catholicism in Britain

Liam's book Radical Poverty: The Capuchins and Catholicism in Britain, 1850-2022, offers the first account of the history of the English Province of Capuchin Franciscans and situates it within wider events such as the Catholic Reformation, the French Revolution, the Kulturkampf and the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. It touches on themes of reform and renewal within Catholicism, poverty, colonialism, anti-Catholicism, mission, warfare, and itinerancy.

This incisive work offers the first comprehensive analysis of the history of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in Britain. Drawing on previously closed archives, this book dives into their origins and their presence in Britain as missionaries between the Reformation and the French Revolution. It then explores the establishment of a permanent province from the 1850s onward. Using manuscripts, letters, diaries, logbooks, mission reports, and unpublished accounts, this book explores how the Capuchin archives bring new perspective on a range of important historical moments, including nineteenth century anti-Catholicism, Catholic emancipation and the rebuilding of Catholicism in Britain, both World Wars, the impact of Vatican II, and the decline of the religious orders in Britain in recent decades.

Liam Temple's research for the project was generously funded by the Capuchins of Great Britain and the book is a significant output for Franciscan Studies at Durham.