In August 1843 an unusual ceremony took place at an undisclosed church in Co. Clare. Fr William John Burke exchanged vows with Catherine Kennedy. Unlike other marriages  William John Burke was still a Catholic Priest, married by another Catholic priest. How the ceremony took place in the first place is a mystery and asks more questions than gives answers. Did the priest that performed the ceremony know, or if he did why did he marry them, knowing their circumstances? These questions cannot be answered as there are no records to consult. The only documented account of the forbidden marriage is an article in The Achill Missionary Herald followed by a letter, written by William John Burke, from the Sheriff’s Prison, Galway where he was held in August 1844.

The article was written “to correct a false impression”, of Mr Burke (the author was not named), releasing him from blame for not declaring his marriage to the widow Kennedy straight away, because he had affairs to get in order before he did so.

The Achill Missionary Herald

It did not matter if he did or did not make the declaration as the marriage was found out and he was persecuted for it anyway.

“It was this unjustifiable policy which gave his enemies the opportunity of getting up the false and malicious charge on which he was tried at the assizes of Galway.”

That is how he found himself in the Sheriff’s Prison, Galway City a year later. Naturally the church did not recognise the marriage. It is more than likely that the couple were excommunicated but the priest who married them was not suspended…

Sources

Achill Missionary Herald, August 1844. p 88-89

Fr William John Burke was sent to the parish of Liscannor in Co Clare. It was in the parish that he met the widow Kennedy mother of seven children. It was not uncommon for the priest of the parish to make house calls to their parishioners especially the more vulnerable ones such as the elderly or widows. Mrs Kennedy was such an individual. However they met is lost in the past but this ‘meeting’ had consequences that changed both their lives and that of their descendants too.

Co Clare. Photo by Larry O’Neill

Thanks

Larry O’Neill; photographer.

Sources

Hereford Journal April 17, 1844. P2.

In the foliage is the remains of a tiny church. It is completely enclosed and can only be accessed from through the houses. It may have been the church that William John Burke was Baptised in…

After ordination in 1831, Fr William John Burke was sent to Peterswell, in Co Galway. Later on that year he was transferred again back home to Kinvara. He was made administrator of the newly built, St Colman’s Church . Incidentally, his father had contributed to the building of the same church  a few years earlier. His arrival marked the beginning of record keeping in the church. The cover page of the registrar contains the following inscription:

A Register of the Baptisims, Marriages and Certificates of the United Parish of Kinvarra, Duras and Killina, by Rev Wm J Burke

June 26th 1831

Fr William John Burke’s first ceremony performed in the parish was the baptism of John Fahy on 28th June 1831. His record keeping seemed meticulous and was the first priest to document the religious events of his parishioners. He remained there as parish Priest of Kinvara until 1834. His time there initially was quite and unremarkable, however, when he returned their again a decade later under very different circumstance it was far from peaceful…

Sources

http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000634188#page/2/mode/1up

O’Connell, J. W., Thomas Quinn, and Gerardine Quinn. St. Colman’s Church: Its Place in the History of the Parish of Kinvara. [Kinvara]: O’Connell-Quinn, 1988.