The O'Rourke family of
Livonia
Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia.
By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...
is a branch of Irish
O'Rourke
O'Rourke () is an Irish Gaelic clan based most prominently in what is today County Leitrim. The family were the historic rulers of Breifne and later West Breifne until the 17th century. The O'Rourke Clan Chief was at odds with the O'Reilly Chie ...
s. It descends from Cornelius O'Rourke (1736–1800), who went to Russian military service and became commandant of
Dorpat
Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...
. From his sons begin two family branches, the Livonian
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
branch and the Polish
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
branch. The most notable member of the family was Cornelius' son
Joseph Cornelius O'Rourke
Count Joseph Cornelius O'Rourke (Russian: Иосиф Корнилович Орурк; also Ioseph Kornilovich O'Rourke; 1772–1849) was a Russian nobleman and military leader of Irish descent who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and achieved the r ...
(1772–1849), general in Russian service. Joseph's grandson
Edward O'Rourke
Edward O'Rourke, full name Eduard Alexander Ladislaus Graf O'Rourke (; ; 26 October 1876 – 27 June 1943) was a Russian-born Roman Catholic priest, bishop of Riga and the first head of the bishopric of the Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk).
Ea ...
became bishop of
Danzig.
[ Newerkla, Stefan Michael (2020), Das irische Geschlecht O'Reilly und seine Verbindungen zu Österreich und Russland he Irish O'Reilly family and their connections to Austria and Russia In: ''Diachronie – Ethnos – Tradition: Studien zur slawischen Sprachgeschichte iachrony – Ethnos – Tradition: Studies in Slavic Language History'' Eds. Jasmina Grković-Major, Natalia B. Korina, Stefan M. Newerkla, Fedor B. Poljakov, Svetlana M. Tolstaja. Brno, Tribun EU, pp. 259–279, here 263–26]
(accessible online).
/ref>
References
External links
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080725055544/http://www.hoganstand.com/general/identity/geese/stories/orourkes.htm O'Rourkes in Russia Hogan Stand
The Arms and the Title of the Counts O’Rourke, Nobles of the Russian EmpireThe Irish O'Reilly family and their connections to Austria and Russia
by Stefan M. Newerkla, with chapter 3.2 on the family O'Rourke in the Russian and Austrian context
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