Providence College DigitalCommons@Providence Historical Catholic and Dominican Documents Special Collections 1930 Father Thomas Burke, O.P. Reverend Robert Eaton Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/catholic_documents Part of the Christian Denominations and Sects Commons Recommended Citation Eaton, Reverend Robert, "Father Thomas Burke, O.P." (1930). Historical Catholic and Dominican Documents. 18. https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/catholic_documents/18 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections at DigitalCommons@Providence. It has been accepted for inclusion in Historical Catholic and Dominican Documents by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Providence. For more information, please contact [email protected]. B 31 FATHER THOMAS BURKE1 O.P. ')N PAMPHLETS ONE M . Bv THE REV. RDBERT EATON are produc.:.~ annually by the C. T. S. You Can- Help (a) By becoming a Membar £1 IS. subscribers and Life-members (fio) receive on request free copies of every new publication is~ued at 6d. or under, and Catholic Truth and Catholic Book Notes every two months. 1os. subscribers receive Catholic Truth and Catholic Book Notes every two months. (b) By making a donation to the Special Fund. (c) By remembering the C.T.S. in your Wil!. F I F TY THIRD TH OUSAND CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY C ATHOLI C TR U TH S O C I E T Y 72 VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, S.W.I 72 VI CTORIA STREE T, LOND ON, S.W .l and at Liverpool, Manchest er, Birmingh am, Brighton, I Cardiff, Newcastle and D erby I L Selected Biographies TWOPENCE EACH B 11 Yen. Edmund Arrowsmith. By Rev. Fr. Goldie, S. J . 1 52 Yen. Dominic Barberi. By Dom Bede Camm, O.S.B. FATHER.THOMASBURKE, O.P. 249 Blessed Robert Beilarmine. By Rev. J. Brodrick , S.J. 227 Monsignor Hugh Benson. By Rev. A. Ross. (1830-!883) 250 Bernadette of Lourdes. By Rev. C. C. Martindale, S.J . 26 Blessed .John Bosco. By lVIrs. Raymond Barker. 285 Bishop Challoner. By Canon E . H . Burton , D.D . BY REv, ROBERT EATON 42 Yen. Margaret Clitherow~ " 290 Cornelia Connelly. " 284 Father Damien (the Apostle of the Lepers). By E nid D innis. NICHOLAS ANTHONY BURKE was born in the city of 62 Galway on September 8, 1830, and was baptized on the " The English Martyrs. By Rev. J. Morris, S.J . " 234 The Eucharistic Congress and "The Beggar Woman of the IOth of the same month, the Feast of St. Nicholas of Blessed Sacrament." · Tolentino, after whom he was called, the name Anth~ny 283 Father Faber. By Wilfrid H . Woollen, M.A. being added because of his mother's devotion to that 66 Blessed .John Fisher. By Monsignor Cologan . saint. His parents, Walter Burke and Margaret Mac­ 207 Gemma Galgani. By F . M. Capes. Donough, were poor in this world's goods, but rich in 245 Pauline Marie daricot. By Enid Dinnis. virtue, and devoted themselves to the training of their 224 Lacordaire and Montalembert. children .. Walter Burke was a baker by .· trade, the 248 Yen. Paul Libermann. By Ethel Murray. "Master of the Rolls," as his son used to call him. An 189 Father Lockhart. ill-natured critic once pronounced Father Burke's 280 Cardinal Manning. sermons to be "flowery." "No wonder I am floury," 119 Bishop Milner. By Very Rev. Canon Burton, D .D . he replied, "was not my father a baker ?" 121 Blessed Thomas More. By Hon. Justice O'H agan. As a child, Nicholas was delicate but full of spirit, 125 Cardinal Newman. By Monsignor Canon Barry, D.D. and early showed that love of music and power of 128 Daniel O'Connell. By M. S. ·B. Malins. mimicry which later distinguished him. His fondness 262 Rev. E. Pernet (F ounder of the Little Sisters of the Assumption). for playing pranks and practical jokes more than once 270 Yen. Nicholas Postgate. got him into trouble, and he received in consequence 141 Ratisbonne Brothers. (From Synagogue t o Church). many severe chastisements from his mother, who re­ " 211 Fra Girolamo Savonarola. By Rev. H . Tristram . garded such corrective acts as sacred, and always " 149 Seven Founders of the Servite Order. began them with prayer. "Direct, 0 Lord, our actions, " 151 Yen. Robert Southwell. By Gilberte T urner. and carry them on by Thy gracious assistance," she " 254 Blessed Anna Maria Taigi (A Mystic in the H ome). would gravely say, to the terror of her delinquent son. 158 Yen . .John Thules. By Monsignor Gradwe ll~ " 281 Cardinal Vaughan. By Cecil Kerr. ~This biography is mainly based on-(1) The Life of Father Burke, by William J. Fitz-Patrick, F .S.A. ; (2) The Inner Life of Cardinal Wiseman. " 279 Fathe'Y Burke, by a Dominican Friar of the English Province; (3) Lectures and Sermons, by Father Thomas Burke, O.P . (P.M. Haverty, New York.) CATHOLIC TRUTH SociETY, 72 VICTORIA STREET, L ONDON, S.W. l :2 Father Thomas Burke, O.P. Father Thomas Burke, O.P. '"When I saw my mother enter the room, make the things that made a deep impression on me as a boy, was sign of the Cross, and solemnly invoke the light of the when· I stood in the chapel of Galway to see the g~eat Holy Ghost to direct her; I knew I could expect _no O'Connell coming to eight o'clock Mass in the morr:mg, mercy," said Father Burke ; " I never got such a beatmg kneeling amongst us, and receiving Holy Commumon ; as that directed by the Holy Spirit, and I have never to watch him absorbed in prayer before God ; almost forgotten it." At times, by way of variety, the word to read the grand thoughts that wer~ passint? through "direct" was changed to "prevent." " But it never that · pure mind; to see him re~ewmg ag~n?- before did prevent," adds Father Burke, "down the lash always Heaven the vows that bound him to reltgwn and came." country." . From his bovhood; Nicholas was wonderfully ob­ It is also probable that the Insh famme. of r847 servant and entered heartily into· his studies. He was helped to fix his mind and heart on the pr~esth~od . early sent to school in Galway under Brother Paul The scenes he witnessed deeply impressed his Imagma­ O'Connor, of the Brotherhood of St. Patrick His tion and filled him with serious thoughts. " I have veneration for this holy man may be gathered from his seen," he tells us, " strong men lie down in the stre~ts , own words: "Amongst the proudest recollections of my and, with ashy lips, murmur a last cry. for food,. and famt life is that I was monitor in Brother Paul's school, and away and die. I have se.en the dead mfant lymg on the that month by month I went to him to answer ~he breast of the dead mother as she lay by the wayside. inquiry, 'whether I had attended my monthly confessiOn I have seen the living infant trying to draw from the and communion,' and how he taught me that, next to breast of the mother who was dead sustenance for its the God that made me, I should love the old land of infant life. 0 God, in Thy mercy, let me never again my birth." see such sights ! If I were to live a thousand years, ·Thence he was sent to a school kept by Dr. O'Toole, never could I banish them from my memory or shut where . owing to his retentive memory and great dili­ them out from my eyes-no, nor th~ir dir~ eff~cts. gence,' he made . rapid progress. Some c;onsidered that The storm at length passed away, beanng on Its wmgs his love of joke and fund of wit were such as to preclude millions of Irish victims and exiles, and leaving Ireland the possibility of a vocation; but a sound spirit of stunned by the greatness of her ruin. There seemed no praCtical piety underlay his exuberant spirits. !~ough hope for the nation. Ruined homesteads, abandoned a wild boy, he knew where to draw the hne, and It IS not villages, , impoverished towns, . workh<:n~ses fil.led to surprising that his more intimate companions were con­ overflowing, prisons crowded With pohtlcal pnson~rs, vinced he was destined for the priesthood. " Here now hospitals unable to hold the victiJ?s of cholera wh1ch is Father Nicholas for you !" his grandmother had came in the wake of war and famme ; trade and com­ exclaimed at his baptism, and that he might eventually merce destroyed, industry paralysed, a populati.on be a priest was his mother's constant prayer. wasted by disease and privation, scarcely able to reahze A severe attack of typhoid fever, at about the age of life after such awful contact with death, and crushed by fourteen, was the crisis in his life. For days the is'sue separation from so many loved hearts." . was. extremely doubtful, and, · on recovering, Nicho~as This event and its consequences thus graphically determined to devote his remaining years to the service described had, we feel sure, their part in sobering It of God alone. is interesting to learn that the example young Burke's mind ~ and fixing his thoughts on the of Daniel O'Conn,ell had a share in developing his priesthood. From h1s boyhood h~ had bee.n un~er \iqcation. " He contributed largely to make a priest Dominican influences, and the umon of · active with of ·me,'; · Father Burke once said, " for amongst the contemplative work in that Order attracted him forcibly.