Publisher's Synopsis
Charles Bourke was born in the 1760s in Carrowcubick, near what is now Ballycastle, Co. Mayo. He was educated in The Irish College, Salamanca, Spain, ordained for the diocese of Killala in 1792 and, in response to an appeal from King Philip II of Spain, he volunteered for service in Spanish Louisiana, becoming the first parish priest of Baton Rouge in the same year.