Burke, John Baptist (d. c.1682), priest, vicar apostolic, was a native of the diocese of Cashel and kin to the earls of Clanricarde. As a youth he served in the Austrian army in northern Italy, before joining the church. He was appointed abbot of Clare, and served as vicar general to John O'Molony (qv), bishop of Killaloe (1630–51). On the bishop's death during the siege of Galway, Burke was not given administration of the see. In 1653 the Cromwellians captured him, along with eighteen other clerics, and banished him to the continent. Here he exercised clerical functions, serving as chaplain to Irish officers in the Austrian army stationed at Milan. From Milan he applied for an Irish diocese, receiving support from the cardinal archbishop of Milan and Cardinal Savelli. He was made vicar apostolic of the diocese of Killala in June 1671, predicated upon his return to Ireland within four months of his appointment. As he had been travelling and did not receive the brief until November of that year, Burke failed to return within the specified time. However, he received a second brief in May 1672, at the behest of Cardinal Litta, which did not contain the four-month qualification and he arrived in Ireland before the end of 1672.
In the meantime, James Lynch (qv), archbishop of Tuam, appointed John Duley, who had been made vicar apostolic of Killaloe in 1654, vicar general of Killala, and refused to recognise or install Burke without seeing the second brief. Burke refused to accede to his demands, on the grounds that a vicar apostolic was subject only to the Holy See. He made clerical appointments in opposition to those of Duley, and as a result was forced to leave the diocese. Unwilling to acquiesce, Burke appealed to the primate, Oliver Plunkett (qv), who was initially supportive. He also received the backing of the bishops of Meath, Clogher, Clonfert, and Elphin – Elphin appointed Burke vicar general and wrote to Rome in his defence. Lynch referred the dispute to Rome, which ultimately favoured the archbishop, as indeed did Plunkett, and consequently Duley was appointed vicar apostolic in 1676.
Burke was arrested in 1674, sentenced to life imprisonment, and had his goods confiscated. Defiant in the face of persecution, he stubbornly resisted private offers of promotion to a protestant bishopric should he conform to the established faith. He was released after two years’ imprisonment at the intercession of William Burke (qv), seventh earl of Clanricarde, but he had to pay a fine of £80 and promise to stay away from Connacht. In fulfilment of a vow made while in captivity, Burke embarked on a pilgrimage to the holy land, but was captured by pirates en route, stripped of his possessions, and sold into slavery. He escaped, or was ransomed by Spaniards, and made his way to Constantinople, where he took refuge with the Austrian ambassador. A request from Burke for aid was received in Rome in 1680. By 1682 Burke had arrived in Rome and petitioned for relief to obtain priestly vestments. The Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide granted him a monthly allowance of six scudi. He also requested a clerical position in the diocese of Killaloe or Cork, a request that was not granted, and he spent his remaining days in Rome.