Thomas Nicholas Burke
Encyclopedia
Thomas Nicholas Burke was an Irish Dominican
preacher.
when he was fourteen years old, and the famine year of 1847 had a sobering effect. Toward the end of that year he asked to be received into the Order of Preachers, and was sent to Perugia
in Italy, to make his novitiate. On 29 December, he was clothed there in the habit of St. Dominic and received the name of Thomas.
Shortly afterward he was sent to Rome to begin his studies in the Convent of the Minerva. He passed thence to the Roman convent of Santa Sabina. His superiors sent him, while yet a student, as novice-master to Woodchester
, the novitiate of the resuscitated English Province. He was ordained priest 26 March 1853, and on 3 August 1854, defended publicly the theses in universâ theologiâ, and took him Dominican degree of Lector.
Early in the following year Father Burke was recalled to Ireland to found the novitiate of the Irish Province at Tallaght, near Dublin. In 1859 he preached his first notable sermon on "Church Music"; it immediately lifted him into fame.
Elected Prior of Tallaght in 1863, he went to Rome the following year as Rector of the Dominican Convent of San Clemente, and attracted great attention by his preaching. He returned to Ireland in 1867, and delivered his oration on Daniel O'Connell
at Glasnevin
before fifty thousand people.
Bishop Leahy took him as his theologian to the First Vatican Council
in 1870, and the following year he was sent as Visitor to the Dominican convents in America. He was besieged with invitations to preach and lecture. The seats were filled hours before he appeared, and his audiences overflowed the churches and halls in which he lectured. In New York he delivered the discourses in refutation of the English historian James Froude.
In eighteen months he gave four hundred lectures, exclusive of sermons, the proceeds amounting to nearly $400,000. His mission was a triumph, but the triumph was dearly won, and when he arrived in Ireland on 7 March 1873, he was spent and broken.
During the next decade he preached in Ireland, England, and Scotland. He began the erection of the church in Tallaght in 1883, and the following May preached a series of sermons in the new Dominican church, London. In June he returned to Tallaght in a dying condition, and preached his last sermon in the Jesuit church, Dublin, in aid of the starving children of Donegal. A few days afterwards he died. He is buried in the church of Tallaght, now a memorial to him.
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...
preacher.
Life
His parents, though in moderate circumstances, gave him a good education. He studied at first under the care of the Patrician Brothers, and was afterwards sent to a private school. An attack of typhoid feverTyphoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
when he was fourteen years old, and the famine year of 1847 had a sobering effect. Toward the end of that year he asked to be received into the Order of Preachers, and was sent to Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
in Italy, to make his novitiate. On 29 December, he was clothed there in the habit of St. Dominic and received the name of Thomas.
Shortly afterward he was sent to Rome to begin his studies in the Convent of the Minerva. He passed thence to the Roman convent of Santa Sabina. His superiors sent him, while yet a student, as novice-master to Woodchester
Woodchester
Woodchester is a Gloucestershire village in the Nailsworth Valley, a valley in the South Cotswolds in England, running southwards from Stroud along the A46 road to Nailsworth....
, the novitiate of the resuscitated English Province. He was ordained priest 26 March 1853, and on 3 August 1854, defended publicly the theses in universâ theologiâ, and took him Dominican degree of Lector.
Early in the following year Father Burke was recalled to Ireland to found the novitiate of the Irish Province at Tallaght, near Dublin. In 1859 he preached his first notable sermon on "Church Music"; it immediately lifted him into fame.
Elected Prior of Tallaght in 1863, he went to Rome the following year as Rector of the Dominican Convent of San Clemente, and attracted great attention by his preaching. He returned to Ireland in 1867, and delivered his oration on Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847; often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century...
at Glasnevin
Glasnevin
Glasnevin is a largely residential neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland.-Geography:A mainly residential neighbourhood, it is located on the Northside of the city of Dublin . It was originally established on the northern bank of the River Tolka...
before fifty thousand people.
Bishop Leahy took him as his theologian to the First Vatican Council
First Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned...
in 1870, and the following year he was sent as Visitor to the Dominican convents in America. He was besieged with invitations to preach and lecture. The seats were filled hours before he appeared, and his audiences overflowed the churches and halls in which he lectured. In New York he delivered the discourses in refutation of the English historian James Froude.
In eighteen months he gave four hundred lectures, exclusive of sermons, the proceeds amounting to nearly $400,000. His mission was a triumph, but the triumph was dearly won, and when he arrived in Ireland on 7 March 1873, he was spent and broken.
During the next decade he preached in Ireland, England, and Scotland. He began the erection of the church in Tallaght in 1883, and the following May preached a series of sermons in the new Dominican church, London. In June he returned to Tallaght in a dying condition, and preached his last sermon in the Jesuit church, Dublin, in aid of the starving children of Donegal. A few days afterwards he died. He is buried in the church of Tallaght, now a memorial to him.