Edward Cuthbert Butler


Edward Cuthbert Butler

Abbot of Downside
Butler in 1917
ChurchCatholic Church
Installed1906
Term ended1922
PredecessorEdward Ford
SuccessorLeander Ramsay
Orders
Ordination1884
Personal details
Born(1858-05-06)6 May 1858
Died2 April 1934(1934-04-02) (aged 75)
Ealing Priory, London, United Kingdom
DenominationCatholic
EducationDownside School

Cuthbert Butler OSB (born Edward Joseph Aloysius Butler; 6 May 1858 – 2 April 1934) was an Irish ecclesiastical historian much of whose career was spent as Benedictine of Downside Abbey in England. He was sometimes referred to as Dom Cuthbert Butler.

Butler is known for The Vatican Council: The Story from Inside in Bishop Ullathorne's Letters. Described by Michael J. G. Pahls as "[t]he standard [English-language] account of the First Vatican Council", the book is based on the correspondence of Bishop William Bernard Ullathorne of Birmingham. Gertrude Himmelfarb describes The Vatican Council as designed to support papal infallibility.

He also wrote on mysticism.