Burke, Honoria

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BURKE, HONORIA

Martyr, Dominican tertiery; b. Co. Mayo, Ireland, 1549; d. Burrishoole, Ireland, February, 1653. Sr. Honoria, daughter of the chieftain of Clanricard, built a convent at Burrishoole after receiving the habit c. 1562. She is said to have miraculously escaped capture by the English troops one time. The second time she was pursued, she sought sanctuary in a church for eight days. Additional miracles of multiplication of scarce food are attributed to her. At the invasion of Cromwell, Burke fled Burrishoole with Sr. Honoria McGaen and a servant. The soldiers caught the centenarian, beat her, and left her to die. McGaen froze to death while hiding in the hollow of a tree. The servant buried both sisters and later related the story of their deaths. Sr. Burke is expressly titled a martyr in the Acts of the General Chapter of 1656.

See Also: irish confessors and martyrs.

Bibliography: m. j. dorcy, Saint Dominic's Family (Dubuque, Iowa 1963), 42223. d. murphy, Our Martyrs (Dublin 1896).

[k. i. rabenstein]

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