Thomas Burke (Thomas De Burgo) (c. 1709 in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland – 25 September 1776 in

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

) was an Irish Dominican and

Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossory The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ossory ( ga, Deoise Osraí) is a Roman Catholic diocese in eastern Ireland. It is one of three suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Dublin. ...

Life

Burke travelled to

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in 1723 and there was placed under the care of his namesake and kinsman, a Dominican, Father Thomas Burke, who prepared him for admission into the order. A dispensation was obtained from the

Sacred Congregation In the Roman Curia, a congregation ( lat, Sacræ Cardinalium Congregationes) is a type of department of the Curia. They are second-highest-ranking departments, ranking below the two Secretariats, and above the pontifical councils, Pontifical Comm ...

, and on 14 June 1724, he was clothed with the Dominican habit before he had attained his fifteenth year. Young Burke showed special aptitude for study and with the permission of the master general was allowed to begin his course during his

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

. Two years were given to philosophy and five to theology. So marked was his progress in studies and letters that he was singled out, even though yet a novice, by special marks of affection from

Pope Benedict XIII Pope Benedict XIII ( la, Benedictus XIII; it, Benedetto XIII; 2 February 1649 – 21 February 1730), born Pietro Francesco Orsini and later called Vincenzo Maria Orsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 May ...

. During the reconstruction of St. Sixtus' in 1727 and 1728, the pontiff visited the Irish Dominicans once a week, taking part in their community exercises, becoming familiar with the friars and especially with Burke. He was gradually promoted to the highest theological honours of the order, being charged successively with all the official duties in a regular Dominican studium. He held the office of regent of studies for six years. In 1742 the Master General, Thomas Ripoll, personally conferred on him the degree of Master of Theology. The following year he returned to Dublin where he took up the work of the ministry. A general chapter of the order held at

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in 1748 passed an ordinance that in all the immediately following provincial chapters a historiographer should be appointed in every province. This order did not reach Ireland from Rome in time for the provincial chapter which was convened the following year at Dublin, and to which assembly Father Burke had been elected by his brethren as Definitor. At the subsequent chapter, however, of 1753 he was appointed historian of his province. The same honour of Definitor was conferred again in 1757. Father Burke while in Rome was commissioned by the Irish clergy, through Bishop Michael MacDonagh OP of Kilmore, to obtain from the Holy See ten new offices of Irish saints. After his return to Ireland, he was entrusted with a similar commission by the

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Irelan ...

, the Most Rev.

John Linegar John Linegar (b and d Dublin; 1671 - 1757) was an Irish Roman Catholic bishop in the mid 18th century. Linegar was born in Broadstone, Dublin and ordained priest in 1694. He trained for the priesthood in the Irish College at Lisbon, he served a ...

, and the Bishops of Ireland for fourteen other feasts of the Irish saints. The decrees were given respectively 8 July 1741 and 1 July 1747. Both original documents are preserved in the archives of St. Clement's, Rome. Father Burke was promoted by

Pope Clement XIII Pope Clement XIII ( la, Clemens XIII; it, Clemente XIII; 7 March 1693 – 2 February 1769), born Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 July 1758 to his death in February 1769. ...

in 1759, to the See of Ossory, which he governed for seventeen years. An accurate portrait of Bishop Burke is possessed by the Dominican nuns of Drogheda, Ireland.

Works

He is known to posterity more on account of his learned work ''Hibernia Dominicana'', than by any other claim. The work was nominally published at Cologne, but in reality it came from the press of Edmund Finn of Kilkenny, in 1762. The author gave to it four years of incessant labour, and in 1772 he added a "Supplementum" which was a vindication of

Rinuccini Rinuccini is a surname, and may refer to: *Giovanni Battista Rinuccini (1592–1653), an Italian archbishop. *Ottavio Rinuccini Ottavio Rinuccini (20 January 1562 – 28 March 1621) was an Italian poet, courtier, and opera librettist at the end of ...

, the nuncio of

Pope Innocent X Pope Innocent X ( la, Innocentius X; it, Innocenzo X; 6 May 1574 – 7 January 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death in January ...

, of the charges brought against him by the supreme council of Confederate Catholics during his residence in Ireland. Question of the oath of allegiance and fear of subverting "that fidelity and submission which we acknowledge ourselves to owe from duty and from gratitude to his Majesty King George III" caused seven of the Irish Bishops to condemn the "Hibernia Dominicana" and "Supplementum". (For defense of Bishop Burke see Coleman, Ir. Eccl. Record.) "Promptuarium dogmatico canonico morale", a work of the celebrated Spanish Dominican Larrago, enlarged and accommodated to its day by Father Burke, was about to be published in 1753 when his appointment as historian interrupted it.

External links

Source
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Thomas 1700s births 1776 deaths Christian clergy from Dublin (city) Irish Dominicans 18th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland Roman Catholic bishops of Ossory

Life

Works

See also

External links