Education
Burke appears to have been a native of Athenry. He is documented as a member of the Dominican Abbey of the town, after which he studied at Bologna.
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Dominic Burke
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From 1628 he was a collegial student in Rome where, after graduate studies, he became lector of theology and confessor. Burke was fluent in Irish, English, Latin and Italian. Between 1638 and 1640 he was proposed for the sees of Clonfert, Kilalla and Achonry but not appointed to any of them.
In 1639 he was in London to carry out an arbitration in a dispute between English Dominicans, meriting praise from Carlo Rossetti, the Papal Representative.
He was by then patronised by the Earl of Clanricarde and the Marchioness of Winchester, who had recommended him for a see. He returned to Athenry 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.
They left his manor at Portumna 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.
However, he repented of this in the last months of his life.
He was a great-uncle of John O"Heyne, who described him as "serious, pious and prudent disposition." Thomas O Floinn writes that
"By his continental priestly training in an international religious order, in common with several other interrelated Dominicans of the Upper Mac William Burkes and Dominicans from other leading Connacht families, he was a man of integrity and truth, well fitted for Dominican ministry, diplomacy, oratory, administration, and a prominent role in the affairs of troubled mid-seventeenth century Ireland.".
