1916 – 1984 (April 16)
Edmund Lawrence Burke, son of Lawrence Burke and Jennie Proctor, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 30, 1916. He received his early education at Visitation and Saint Clare grammar schools and spent his high school at Augustinian Academy, Staten Island, New York. He entered the novitiate on September 8, 1934, and professed first vows on September 10, 1935 and solemn vows on September 10, 1938. After his novitiate he began college work at Villanova College and received his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1939. He pursued theological studies at Augustinian College, Washington, DC, where he was ordained to the priesthood at Trinity College on May, 28, 1942. He received his Master of Arts degree in physics from the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. He attended Notre Dame College, St. Louis, Missouri, for advanced courses in physics.
In 1943 Father Burke was assigned to teach at Saint Rita High School in Chicago. From 1965 to 1972 he was stationed at Augustinian Academy, St. Louis, Missouri, as teacher and procurator. From 1972 to 1975 he served as a teacher and procurator at Cascia Hall, Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1975 he was assigned as prior at Austin Catholic High School in Detroit, Michigan, and from 1979 until the time of his death he was a teacher at Cascia Hall.
Father Burke’s final two years were lived under the threat of cancer. He died at Cascia Hall with the community around him as he wanted on April 16, 1984, 68 years to the day from the date of his baptism. Father Burke was a man who gave himself totally to the community and to ministry. In his last years he suffered patiently and continued teaching until a few days before his death. Father Burke is buried in the Augustinian plot at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Worth, IL.
