Religious Persecution
When the religious persecutions which followed the suppression of the Fitzgeralds began, Bourke incurred the enmity of the government by his open avowal of the Catholic Faith and by his protection of the persecuted and hunted clergy. During the short lull in the persecutions he openly attended Divine Service at St. Mary's Cathedral, temporarily restored to the Catholics, and was received together with his family and retainers, into the Dominican Confraternity of the Holy Rosary.
On the renewal of the persecutions, Sir John was summoned to answer a charge of recusancy and was put into prison. Again the good offices of Sir George Thornton obtained his release, but although restored to his estates and fortune, he continued to harbour the hunted priests and was acknowledged "protector of the Catholics".
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