Burke, Father Patrick
1924, June 16
Date of Birth: 1887, August 4
No Memorial Card is Available
Patrick Francis Burke was born in Tipperary, Ireland, on August 4, 1887. His was a religious family: his brother became a Passionist priest, and one of his sisters became a Sister of Mercy. After the family came to the United States, another sister became a Poor Clare in Boston.
At the age of nine, Patrick Burke entered the Jesuit Apostolic School in Mungret. Successful in his studies, he later received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the Royal University of Ireland. Patrick remained in Ireland after his family came to the United States in 1900 in order to study for the Jesuits. But the first evidences of tuberculosis caused him to leave the Jesuits; he then came to Providence, Rhode Island, where his family had settled.
After an apparent recovery, his apostolic spirit prompted him to seek adoption in the Diocese of San Antonio, Texas. He entered St. Mary’s Seminary in 1911 to study for that mission field.
At the seminary, Patrick Burke felt himself attracted to the work of St. Sulpice. He was ordained to the priesthood as a Sulpician candidate on September 24, 1914. After ordination, for two years he attended Catholic University where he earned his licentiate in Sacred Theology. At about this time, he was again stricken with tuberculosis. He spent the rest of his life in sanatoria, first in the Adirondacks and then in Asheville, North Carolina. In these hospitals, Father Burke did excellent priestly work. He died on June 16, 1924.
Although he never attended Solitude and therefore is not officially a member of St. Sulpice, he has always been regarded as a Sulpician in this province.