A native of Knocklong, Co. Limerick, Msgr Joseph Burke (1858-1939), was ordained for Salford Diocese in 1885. He founded the Salesian College in Bolton.

In 1935, when he was celebrating his priestly Golden Jubilee, it was announced that he had been created Knight Commander of the Holy Sepulchre by Pope Pius X1, Grand-Master of the Order from 1922 to 1928. Among his many benefactions to the Diocese, Canon Burke left his collection of pictures, and an endowment to St. Bede’s College, and he placed beautiful stained-glass windows in St. Patrick’s and at Pleasington Priory.