Professor Veronica O’Mara

Research interests

Working primarily on manuscript, early print, and archival sources in England, I routinely strive to situate my research in a comparative European context as well as collaborating with scholars at home and abroad. Particularly through my research on sermon studies and nuns’ literacies in medieval Europe I have built up a network of medievalist contacts in Art History, English, History, Languages, and Theology departments throughout Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan.

Publications

Monograph

O’Mara, Veronica, and Virginia Blanton, Saints’ Lives for Medieval English Nuns, I: A Study of the ‘Lyves and Dethes’ in Cambridge University Library, MS Additional 2604, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 18 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2023)

Edited Texts

Saints’ Lives for Medieval English Nuns, II: An Edition of the ‘Lyves and Dethes’ in Cambridge University Library, MS Additional 2604, ed. by Veronica O’Mara and Virginia Blanton, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 32 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2024)

Hutchison, Ann M., and Veronica O’Mara, ‘The Lyfe of Seynt Birgette: An Edition of a Swedish Saint’s Life for an English Audience’, in ‘Booldly but meekly’: Essays on the Theory and Practice of Translation in the Middle Ages in Honour of Roger Ellis, ed. by Catherine Batt and René Tixier, The Medieval Translator/Traduire au Moyen Âge, 14 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2018), pp. 173–208

Four Middle English Sermons, Edited from British Library MS Harley 2268, ed. by Veronica O’Mara, Middle English Texts, 33 (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, 2002)

A Study and Edition of Selected Middle English Sermons: Richard Alkerton’s Easter Week Sermon Preached at St Mary Spital in 1406, a Sermon on Sunday Observance, and a Nunnery Sermon for the Feast of the Assumption, ed. by V. M. O’Mara, Leeds Texts and Monographs, n.s. 13 (Leeds: The School of English, The University of Leeds, 1994)

Cataloguing Works

O’Mara, Veronica, and Suzanne Paul, A Repertorium of Middle English Prose Sermons, Sermo: Studies on Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Sermons and Preaching, 1, 4 vols (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007)

Pickering, O. S., and V. M. O’Mara, The Index of Middle English Prose: Handlist XIII, Manuscripts in Lambeth Palace Library, including those formerly in Sion College Library (Cambridge: Brewer, 1999)

Edited Essay Collections

Circulating the Word of God in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Catholic Preaching and Preachers across Manuscript and Print (c. 1450 to c. 1550), ed. by Veronica O’Mara and Patricia Stoop, Sermo: Studies on Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Sermons and Preaching, 17 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022)

Exley, Diane, and others, Quakers and the First World War: Conscience and Courage from a Leeds Perspective, ed. by Veronica O’Mara (York: Radius Publishing Ltd (Quacks Books), 2018)

Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe: The Antwerp Dialogue, ed. by Virginia Blanton, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 28 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2017)

Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe: The Kansas City Dialogue, ed. by Virginia Blanton, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 27 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2015)

Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe: The Hull Dialogue, ed. by Virginia Blanton, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 26 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013)

Preaching the Word in Manuscript and Print in Late Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Susan Powell, ed. by Martha W. Driver and Veronica O’Mara, Sermo: Studies on Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Sermons and Preaching, 11 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013)

Leeds Studies in English: Essays in Honour of Oliver Pickering, ed. by Janet Burton, William Marx, and Veronica O’Mara, n.s. 41 (2010)

Literature, Readers and Dialogue: Essays by and in Reply to Douglas Jefferson, ed. by Janet Clare and Veronica O’Mara (Dublin: University College Dublin Press/Preas Choláiste Ollscoile Bhaile Átha Cliath, 2006)

The Translation of the Works of St Birgitta of Sweden into the Medieval European Vernaculars, ed. by Bridget Morris and Veronica O’Mara, The Medieval Translator, 7 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000)

Book chapters and journal articles

‘A Dominican Nun as Dedicatee: Elizabeth White and the Tower Writings of John Fisher, in Women in Late Medieval Britain: Makers, Patrons, and Readers, Proceedings of the 2024 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by Martha W. Driver and Marlene V. Hennessy, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, 35 (Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2026), pp. 166–88

‘The Early Printed Sermon in England between 1483 and 1532: A Peculiar Phenomenon’, in Circulating the Word of God in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Catholic Preaching and Preachers across Manuscript and Print (c. 1450 to c. 1550), ed. by Veronica O’Mara and Patricia Stoop, Sermo: Studies on Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Sermons and Preaching, 17 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022), pp. 71–102

O’Mara, Veronica, and Patricia Stoop, ‘Introduction’, in Circulating the Word of God in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Catholic Preaching and Preachers across Manuscript and Print (c. 1450 to c. 1550), ed. by Veronica O’Mara and Patricia Stoop, Sermo: Studies on Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Sermons and Preaching, 17 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2022), pp. 17–45

‘Unearthing the History of an Early Printed Sermon: John Fisher and St John’s College, Cambridge’, in Middle English Manuscripts and Their Legacies: A Volume in Honour of Ian Doyle, ed. by Corinne Saunders and Richard Lawrie, with Laurie Atkinson, Library of the Written Word, 102, The Manuscript World, 14 (Leiden: Brill, 2022), pp. 212–33

‘Preaching to Nuns in the Norwich Diocese on the Eve of the Reformation: The Evidence from Visitation Records’, in Monastic Life in the Medieval British Isles: Essays in Honour of Janet Burton, ed. by Karen Stöber, Julie Kerr, and Emilia Jamroziak (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2018), pp. 189–212

‘Problems in Indexing and Editing Middle English Prayer as Illustrated by the Chester Processional Texts’, in Editing and Interpretation of Middle English Texts: Essays in Honour of William Marx, ed. by Margaret Connolly and Raluca Radulescu, Texts and Transitions, 12 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2018), pp. 249–65

Blanton, Virginia, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, ‘Introduction’, in Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe: The Antwerp Dialogue, ed. by Virginia Blanton, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 28 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2017), pp. xxi–lxvi

‘Scribal Engagement and the Late Medieval English Nun: The Quest Concludes?’, in Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe: The Antwerp Dialogue, ed. by Virginia Blanton, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 28 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2017), pp. 187–208

‘A Syon Scribe Revealed by Her Signature: Mary Nevel and Her Manuscripts’, in Continuity and Change: Papers from the Birgitta Conference at Dartington 2015, ed. by Elin Andersson and others, Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, Konferenser, 93 (Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 2017), pp. 283–308

Blanton, Virginia, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, ‘Introduction’, in Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe: The Kansas City Dialogue, ed. by Virginia Blanton, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 27 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2015), pp. xxvii–xlv

‘Nuns and Writing in Late Medieval England: The Quest Continues’, in Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe: The Kansas City Dialogue, ed. by Virginia Blanton, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 27 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2015), pp. 123–47

‘The Last Judgement in Medieval English Prose Sermons: An Overview’, in The Last Judgement in Medieval Preaching, ed. by Thom Mertens and others, Sermo: Studies on Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Sermons and Preaching, 3 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), 19–41

Blanton, Virginia, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, ‘Introduction’, in Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe: The Hull Dialogue, ed. by Virginia Blanton, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 26 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), pp. xiii–xxiii

‘The Late Medieval English Nun and her Scribal Activity: A Complicated Quest’, in Nuns’ Literacies in Medieval Europe: The Hull Dialogue, ed. by Virginia Blanton, Veronica O’Mara, and Patricia Stoop, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 26 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), pp. 69–93

‘Saint Birgitta of Sweden’s Life in a Middle English Context’, in The Birgittine Experience: Papers from the Birgitta Conference in Stockholm 2011, ed. by Claes Gejrot, Mia Åkestam, and Roger Andersson, Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, Konferenser, 82 (Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 2013), pp. 54–72

Driver, Martha W., and Veronica O’Mara, ‘Introduction’, in Preaching the Word in Manuscript and Print in Late Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Susan Powell, ed. by Martha W. Driver and Veronica O’Mara, Sermo: Studies on Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Sermons and Preaching, 11 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), pp. 1–9

‘A Victorian Response to a Fifteenth-Century Incunabulum: The “Boy Bishop” Sermon and How it was First Edited’, in Preaching the Word in Manuscript and Print in Late Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Susan Powell, ed. by Martha W. Driver and Veronica O’Mara, Sermo: Studies on Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Sermons and Preaching, 11 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), pp. 351–90

Burton, Janet, William Marx, and Veronica O’Mara, ‘Editorial Introduction’, in Leeds Studies in English: Essays in Honour of Oliver Pickering, ed. by Janet Burton, William Marx, and Veronica O’Mara, n.s. 41 (2010), x–xvi

‘Thinking Afresh about Thomas Wimbledon’s Paul’s Cross Sermon of c. 1387’, Leeds Studies in English: Essays in Honour of Oliver Pickering, ed. by Janet Burton, William Marx, and Veronica O’Mara, n.s. 41 (2010), 155–71

O’Mara, Veronica, and Virginia Blanton, ‘Cambridge University Library, Additional MS 2604: Repackaging Female Saints’ Lives for the Fifteenth-Century English Nun’, Journal of the Early Book Society, 13 (2010), 237–43

O’Mara, Veronica, and Suzanne Paul, ‘A Preliminary List of Patristic and Other Authors Cited in the Middle English Prose Sermon: An Introduction to an Online Resource in Progress’, Medieval Sermon Studies, 51 (2007), 41–79

Clare, Janet, and Veronica O’Mara, ‘Introduction’, in Literature, Readers and Dialogue: Essays by and in Reply to Douglas Jefferson, ed. by Janet Clare and Veronica O’Mara (Dublin: University College Dublin Press/Preas Choláiste Ollscoile Bhaile Átha Cliath, 2006), 1–10

‘ “Go, ȝe curselynges, to euerelasting fier”: Doomsday in Middle English Prose Sermons’, in Prophecy, Apocalypse and the Day of Doom: Proceedings of the 2000 Harlaxton Conference, ed. by Nigel Morgan, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, 12 (Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2004), pp. 277–91

Morris, Bridget, and Veronica O’Mara, ‘Introduction’, in The Translation of the Works of St Birgitta of Sweden into the Medieval European Vernaculars, ed. by Bridget Morris and Veronica O’Mara, The Medieval Translator, 7 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), pp. 1–24

‘ “Perauenture the wynde had blowe ouer the leef’: Caxton, The Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, and the Woman Question’, Poetica: An International Journal of Linguistic-Literary Studies, 49 (1998), 27–47

‘Preaching to Nuns in Late Medieval England’, in Medieval Monastic Preaching, ed. by Carolyn Muessig, Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History, 90 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), pp. 93–119

‘Saints’ Plays and Preaching: Theory and Practice in Late Middle English Sanctorale Sermons’, Leeds Studies in English: Essays in Honour of Peter Meredith, ed. by Catherine Batt, n.s. 29 (1998), 257–74

‘Female Scribal Ability and Scribal Activity in Late Medieval England: The Evidence?’, Leeds Studies in English, n.s. 27 (1996), 87–130

‘ “The hallowyng of þe tabernakyll of owre sawle” according to the Preacher of the Middle English Sermons in BL MS Harley 2268’, in Models of Holiness in Medieval Sermons: Proceedings of the International Symposium (Kalamazoo, 4–7 May 1995), ed. by Beverley Mayne Kienzle and others, Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Médiévales, Textes et Études du Moyen Âge, 5 (Louvain-la-Neuve: Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Médiévales, 1996), pp. 229–42

‘Late Middle English Sermons on the Apostles: A Survey’, Ephemerides Liturgicae, 111 (1997), 147–63
‘Manuscript and Print: The Relationship between “The Revelation of the Hundred Pater Nosters” and The Seven Sheddings of the Blood of Jesus Christ’, Ephemerides Liturgicae, 111 (1997), 434–47

‘Another Copy of “Who-so him beþouete / inwardlich & ofte”, Notes and Queries, 240 (1995), 30–31
‘From Print to Manuscript: The Golden Legend and British Library Lansdowne MS 379’, Leeds Studies in English, n.s. 23 (1992), 81–104

‘The Twelvefold Division of the Red Sea: A Late Middle English Example’, Medieval Sermon Studies, 30 (1992), 63–64

‘A Middle English Text Written by a Female Scribe’, Notes and Queries, 235 (1990), 396–98

‘An Unknown Middle English Translation of a Brigittine Work’, Notes and Queries, 234 (1989), 162–64

‘A Checklist of Unedited Late Middle English Sermons that Occur Singly or in Small Groups’, Leeds Studies in English, n.s. 19 (1988), 141–66

‘A Middle English Sermon Preached by a Sixteenth-Century “Athiest”: A Preliminary Account’, Notes and Queries, 232 (1987), 183–85

‘A Middle English Versified Penance Composed of Popular Prayer Tags’, Notes and Queries, 231 (1986), 449–50

Editorial and Advisory Work

Joint editor of Medieval Sermon Studies (1990–95, with Simon Forde, University of Leeds; 1995–2010, with Professor Carolyn Muessig, University of Bristol)

Member of the editorial board of SERMO: Studies on Patristic, Medieval and Reformation Sermons and Preaching (2005–)

Member of the international Advisory Committee of the Index of Middle English Prose (2016–)

Qualifications

• PhD in Middle English, University of Leeds
• MA Old and Middle English (Hons), University College Dublin (UCD), National University of Ireland
• BA Old and Middle English, and Modern English (First Class), UCD, National University of Ireland

Student education

In my time at the universities of Dublin (University College), Hull (where I became Professor of Medieval English Literature in 2015), Keele, and Leeds I have taught and/or lectured on all aspects of Old and Middle English Language and Literature as well as on modules in History of the Language, Literary Theory, Linguistics, and post-medieval literature at undergraduate levels, and have provided specialist medieval courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, in addition to doctoral supervision and external examining.