Maurice Francis Burke
Maurice Francis Burke was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne in Wyoming and as bishop of the Diocese of Saint Joseph in Missouri.
Biography
Early life
Maurice Burke was born on May 5, 1845, in Knockainy, County Limerick, in Ireland to Francis Noonan and Joanna Burke. When he was four years old, his family immigrated to the United States, settling in Chicago, Illinois. He received his education at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Chicago and at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. Burke continued his studies at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.Priesthood
Burke was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Chicago by Cardinal Costantino Patrizi Naro in Rome on May 22, 1875. On his return to Chicago, Burke was assigned to serve as a curate at St. Mary's Parish in that city. After three years, he was appointed pastor of St. Mary's Church in Joliet, Illinois.Bishop of Cheyenne
On August 9, 1887, Burke was appointed the first bishop of the new Diocese of Cheyenne by Pope Leo XIII. Burke received his episcopal consecration on October 28, 1887, from Archbishop Patrick Feehan, with Bishops William McCloskey and Henry Cosgrove serving as co-consecrators, at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago.By 1889, the diocese had five priests and 5,000 parishioners spread over a huge area. In addition, he faced attacks by the American Protective Association, an anti-Catholic and anti-Irish hate group. The virulence forced the Sisters of Charity to abandon their institutions in the diocese. Burke travelled to Rome to petition the Vatican to attach the diocese to a more established one, citing the dire conditions in Wyoming. The pope denied his request. In a letter to Mother Katherine Drexel, Burke described himself as a "bishop in name only" without parishioners or priests. In 1893, Pope Leo XIII attached the Diocese of Cheyenne to the ecclesiastical province of Dubuque, and transferred Burke to another diocese.