Butler, Basil Christopher (1902-1986)

English Benedictine. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1928, and in 1929 joined the Benedictine order at Downside Abbey in England. He was ordained a priest in 1933, and was headmaster of Downside School (1940-46). In 1946 he was elected abbot of Downside and in 1961 Abbot President of the English Congregation, in which last capacity he played a distinguished part in the Second Vatican Council. In 1966 he became auxiliary bishop of Westminster.

Butler was born in Reading, England, and educated at St John's College, Oxford University. His works include The Originality of Matthew (1951), The Church and Infallibility (1954), The Church and the Bible (1960), Prayer: an adventure in living (1961), and The Idea of the Church (1962).