Paper given at the ‘On commotions and commodities. Catholic celebrities in 19th and 20th century Europe’ international workshop held on 22nd June at the Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp (part of the ERC-funded Stigmatics project)
Lecture: ‘There’s no doubt – I’m one of the devout’: Fandom and Popular Cults, Sacred and Secular
Guest lecture given on COM 5218 Celebrity and Fan Culture module, Richmond American International University, London, on 16th October, at the invitation of Associate Professor of Communication, Dr Fred Vermorel
Blog: Fulton Sheen Relics Row
Last week saw the abrupt halting of the cause for the beatification of Fulton Sheen – Auxiliary Bishop of New York in the 1950s, later Bishop of Rochester, and Emmy Award-winning TV personality, with programmes that got audiences of 30 million at his peak
Blog: An Angel in the Trenches, A Bestseller in the Shops – Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Commercial Religion and the First World War
The First World War saw some of the richest (and kitschest) pieces of material devotional culture produced by the Carmel of Lisieux
Blog: Jesus of the Potatoes – Saint Faustyna and the Divine Mercy Devotion
Having just waded through all 644 pages of the Diary of Saint Maria Faustyna Kowalska (1905-1938), Polish nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and founder of the internationally popular Divine Mercy devotion, I’ve resolved to try to make sense of it in the context of the modern history of popular Catholic culture
The Guardian, Cif Belief: Must the Catholic church dehumanise John Paul II to make him a saint?
Sadly, the process of canonisation seems to require stripping the former pope of his personality, to fit the sterile mould of a saint
The Way: Book Review – ‘Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Unfolding of Her Message’, by Joanne Mosley
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906) is not as widely known as her near contemporary and fellow Carmelite, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, but their stories are strikingly similar
Lecture: ‘There’s no doubt – I’m one of the devout’: Fandom and Popular Cults, Sacred and Secular
Guest lecture given on COM 5218 Celebrity and Fan Culture module, Richmond American International University, London, on 24th October, at the invitation of Associate Professor of Communication, Dr Fred Vermorel
Blog: Sainthood never looked so good…
To mark All Saints’ Day, and inspired by the My Daguerreotype Boyfriend tumblr, here are some of the best-looking saints (or potential saints) of the modern Catholic Church
Talk: ‘Reach out and touch faith’ – Pilgrimage and fandom, sacred and secular
Guest ‘sermon’ given at Hertford College Chapel, Oxford, at the Choral Evensong service on 21st October, at the invitation of the College Chaplain, Gareth Hughes
Sophia Deboick 
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