Celeste McNamara

Dr.

Contact Details


SPD D314
T:Ext. 9090

E:celeste.mcnamara@dcu.ie



Assistant Professor

Profile Photo

Celeste McNamara is a historian of early modern Europe. She specialises in early modern Italy, the history of the Catholic Church, gender, and the history of crime. She holds a PhD from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL USA (2013). Before coming to DCU, she taught at the State University of New York at Cortland, University of Warwick/Warwick in Venice, and the College of William and Mary. 

Dr McNamara is the author of The Bishop's Burden: Reforming the Catholic Church in Early Modern Italy (CUA Press, 2020), and a number of articles and book chapters. She is currently working on the history of the control of illicit sexuality in 16th-18th century Venice by both ecclesiastical and secular powers, with funding from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. 

Book

Year Publication
2020 Celeste McNamara (2020) The Bishop's Burden: Reforming the Catholic Church in Early Modern Italy. Washington, DC USA: Catholic University of America Press.

Peer Reviewed Journal

Year Publication
2024 McNamara, C. (2024) 'Priests Behaving Badly: The Problem of Scandal in the Early Modern Catholic Church*'. Journal of Modern History, 96 . [Link] [DOI]
2023 Mcnamara, Celeste (2023) 'Dangerous liaisons, or strategies for family management in eighteenth-century Venice'. History of the Family, 28 (4). [DOI]
2019 Celeste McNamara (2019) 'Molding the Model Bishop from Trent to Vatican II'. Church History, . [Link] [DOI]
2016 Celeste McNamara (2016) 'What the People Want: Popular Support for Catholic Reform in the Veneto'. Catholic Historical Review, . [Link] [DOI]
2013 Celeste McNamara (2013) 'Conceptualizing the Priest: Lay and Episcopal Expectations of Clerical Reform in Late Seventeenth-Century Padua'. Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, . [Link] [DOI]

Book Chapter

Year Publication
2023 Celeste McNamara (2023) 'Pastoral Care' In: The Cambridge Companion to the Council of Trent. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
2021 Celeste McNamara (2021) 'Schism in the Stato da Mar: The Bishop of Padua and Mission in Southeastern Europe' In: Historični Seminar 14. Ljubljana : ZRC Sazu. https://doi.org/10.3986/9789610505440_02
2016 Celeste McNamara (2016) 'Confraternities and Rural Devotion in the Veneto' In: Rituals of Politics and Culture in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honour of Edward Muir. Toronto : University of Toronto Press.
2015 Celeste McNamara (2015) 'Extending the Boundaries of the Sacred in Seventeenth-Century Padua' In: The Sacralization of Space and Behavior in the Early Modern World. Farnham, Surrey UK : Ashgate.
2012 Celeste McNamara (2012) 'Challenges to Episcopal Authority in Seventeenth-Century Padua' In: Episcopal Reform and Politics in Early Modern Europe. Kirksville, MO USA : Truman State University Press.

Conference Contribution

Year Publication
2024 Celeste McNamara (2024) Renaissance Society of America Conference Hunting a Harasser: Urban Space and Anonymity in 18th-century Venice Chicago, IL USA, 21/03/2024-23/03/2024.
2023 Celeste McNamara (2023) Renaissance Society of America Conference The best ruffian in Venice: Elite Tourists and the Sex Trade San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA, .
2022 Celeste McNamara (2022) Renaissance Society of America Conference The Value of Virginity in Early Modern Venice Dublin, Ireland, .
2022 Celeste McNamara; Juliana Adelman (2022) Telling Stories, Queen’s University Belfast Centre for Public History True versus real? Historical fiction and the teaching of history Belfast, .
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2024) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

Employment

Employer Position From / To
Dublin City University Assistant Professor 01/09/2021 -
SUNY Cortland Assistant Professor 01/09/2018 - 31/08/2021
University of Warwick Assistant Professor 01/09/2015 - 01/08/2018
College of William and Mary Visiting Assistant Professor 01/08/2013 - 31/05/2015

Education

Start date Institution Qualification Subject
Northwestern University PhD
Northwestern University MA
College of Arts and Sciences, College of William and Mary BA

Reviews

Journal Role
Journal of Religious History Editor

Creative Outputs

Year Title Type
2024 "Venice Unmasked" (Hidden Venice, https://historycityapps.org/apps/) Fiction

Research Interests

Early Modern Europe

Early Modern Italy

Catholic Reform

Crime and Punishment

Gender History

Religious History

Popular Culture

Venice and the Veneto

Research Projects

Title Role Description Start date End date
Sin in the Serenissima: Illicit Sexuality in Early Modern Venice PI 01/09/2021 30/09/2023

Current Postgraduate Students

Student Name Degree Supervision
Vavalis ,Anastasios PhD-track Supervisor

Modules Coordinated

Term Title Subject
2022 HY209
2022 HY342
2022 HY115
2022 Renaissance, Reformation, and Religious Wars HY211
2023 HY211
2023 HY236