Dominick Burke was an Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 Dominican

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

 priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 and political agent.

Burke appears to have been a native of Athenry

Athenry

Athenry is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It lies east of Galway city, and one of the attractions of the town is its medieval castle. The town is also well-known by virtue of the song "The Fields of Athenry".-History:...

; he is documented as a member of the Dominican Abbey of the town, after which he studied at Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

. From 1628 he was a collegial student in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 where, after graduate studies, he became lector

Lector

Lector is a Latin term for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages the word has come to take various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as , , and . It has various specialized uses:...

 of theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 and confessor

Confessor

-Confessor of the Faith:Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith, but not to the point of death. The term is still used in this way in the East. In Latin Christianity it has come to signify any saint, as well as those who have been declared...

. Burke was fluent in Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

, English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Latin and Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

.

He was proposed in 1633 by Ridolfi for the Scottish mission but remained in Rome as procurator

Procurator

Procurator may refer to:*Procurator , the title of various officials of the Roman Empire...

 of the Irish Dominican province, which he held till 1639, succeeding his brother, Oliver Burke

Oliver Burke

Oliver Burke was a Dominican priest and ecclesiastical administrator, Bishop of Kilmacduagh.Burke was a native of Athenry, brother of Dominic Burke, John de Burgh , and Hugh Burke and grand-uncle to the Dominican historian, John O'Heyne...

. Between 1638 and 1640 he was proposed for the sees of Clonfert

Clonfert

Clonfert is a small village in east County Galway, Ireland. It is half way between Ballinasloe and Portumna.Clonfert Cathedral is situated in the village, which is the see of the Diocese of Clonfert.-See also:* List of towns and villages in Ireland...

, Kilalla and Achonry

Achonry

Achonry is a village in County Sligo, Ireland.In the parish is the former Church of Ireland Cathedral of St Crumnathy, now deconsecrated.-See also:* List of towns and villages in Ireland-External links:** — photograph at flickr.com...

 but not appointed to any of them. In 1639 he was in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to carry out an arbitration in a dispute between English Dominicans, meriting praise from Carlo Rossetti

Carlo Rossetti

thumb|200 px|Carlo Rossetti after his return to Rome.Carlo Rossetti was an Italian Catholic Cardinal who went to London as a secret nuncio on behalf of Pope Urban VIII...

, the Papal Representative

Nuncio

Nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word, Nuntius, meaning "envoy." This article addresses this title as well as derived similar titles, all within the structure of the Roman Catholic Church...

. He was by then patronised by the Earl of Clanricarde

Earl of Clanricarde

Earl of Clanricarde is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland, first in 1543 and again in 1800. The former creation became extinct in 1916 while the 1800 creation is still extant and held by the Marquess of Sligo since 1916....

 and the Marchioness of Winchester

Marquess of Winchester

Marquess of Winchester is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1551 for the prominent statesman William Paulet, 1st Earl of Wiltshire. He had already been created Baron St John in 1539 and Earl of Wiltshire in 1550, also in the Peerage of England...

, who had recommended him for a see.

He returned to Athenry

Athenry

Athenry is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It lies east of Galway city, and one of the attractions of the town is its medieval castle. The town is also well-known by virtue of the song "The Fields of Athenry".-History:...

 in 1642 as its prior, instigating a programme of theological studies and was responsible for the repair of the priory church, thanks to the support of the Earl of Clanricarde

Earl of Clanricarde

Earl of Clanricarde is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland, first in 1543 and again in 1800. The former creation became extinct in 1916 while the 1800 creation is still extant and held by the Marquess of Sligo since 1916....

.

Burke and his brother Oliver both served as chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

 and adviser to Clanricarde, and only left his household at the threat of severe censure from Dominic Nugent, the provicial. They left his manor at Portumna

Portumna

Portumna is a market town in the south-east of County Galway, Ireland, on the border with County Tipperary. The town is located to the west of the point where the River Shannon enters Lough Derg. This historic crossing point over the River Shannon between counties Tipperary and Galway has a long...

 before 15 September 1642. Despite this, he was employed by Clanricarde as his agent to the Irish Confederates in Kilkenny, dealing directly with the Supreme Council.

Burke was a resolute opponent of Giovanni Battista Rinuccini

Giovanni Battista Rinuccini

Giovanni Battista Rinuccini was a Roman Catholic archbishop in the mid seventeenth century. He was a noted legal scholar who became chamberlain to Pope Gregory XV, who made him the Archbishop of Fermo in Italy...

 during the later part of the Irish Confederate Wars

Irish Confederate Wars

This article is concerned with the military history of Ireland from 1641-53. For the political context of this conflict, see Confederate Ireland....

, signing the Ormond Peace in 1646. However, he repented of this in the last months of his life.

He was an great-uncle of John O'Heyne

John O'Heyne

John O'Heyne was an Irish Dominican and historian.O'Heyne was born near Athenry about 1648. His paternal grand-uncle was Dominic Burke, O.P., who infamously opposed the Papal Nuncio, Giovanni Battista Rinuccini. His maternal grand-uncle was John de Burgo, Archbishop of Tuam, and Hugh Burke, Bishop...

, who described him as "serious, pious and [of] prudent disposition." Thomas O Floinn writes that

Reference

• Old Galway, Maureen Donovon O'Sullivan, 1942
• Burke, Dominic, Thomas S.R. O Floinn, in Dictionary of Irish Biography from the Earlist Times to the Year 2002, pp. 22–23, Dublin, 2010.