John Butler, 12th Baron Dunboyne (1731 – 7 May 1800) was an Irish clergyman and

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, Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork and Ross. In order to advance his temporal title and marry he became, , the only authenticated apostate in the Catholic hierarchy in IrelandO'Connor (2004)

Early life

Butler was the third son of Edmond Butler, 8th Baron Dunboyne (died 1732) and the widow Anne Nagle, ''née'' Grace. The family was part of a wealthy network of landed Butlers across Leinster and

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

. However, the family was subject to the

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's policy of curtailment of civil rights of Irish Catholics (''see, Ireland 1691–1801:The Penal Laws''). Raised a Roman Catholic, John early acknowledged a vocation for the Church. His brothers, Pierce and Edmond chose the army and left the family home to fight in the War of the Austrian Succession. Butler commenced his studies at the

Irish College Irish Colleges is the collective name used for approximately 34 centres of education for Irish Catholic clergy and lay people opened on continental Europe in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. History The Colleges were set up to educate Roma ...

in Rome, managing to lose his left eye in a duel, and was ordained priest in 1755 in the Basilica of St. John Lateran.} He returned to Ireland in 1758, having completed his doctorate, though his Catholic credentials entailed an interview before a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

in Whitehaven. Butler returned to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, being appointed parish priest of

Ardmayle Ardmayle () is a civil parish, village and townland in County Tipperary. It is situated near Boherlahan, Goolds Cross and Cashel. It is located on the River Suir and was once served by a railway station on the Goolds Cross Cashel railway. It ...

in 1759. While he was establishing his place in the Church hierarchy, becoming an

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and secretary to the bishop, he was also bolstering his secular role in the Butler family network.

Bishop of Cork

The post of

Bishop of Cork The Bishop of Cork was a separate episcopal title which took its name after the city of Cork in Ireland. The title is now united with other bishoprics. In the Church of Ireland it is held by the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, and in the Roman C ...

fell vacant in 1763 and Butler won immediate support as the leading candidate, being appointed by

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in 1763. The years following his appointment marked a reduction in the

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in Ireland and the relaxation afforded the Church the opportunity finally to implement the decrees of the Council of Trent in respect of the Irish hierarchy. Butler led the changes but was careful to use his secular network and status to maintain relationships with the Protestant establishment. For fear of Protestant sentiment, Butler stalled

Nano Nagle Venerable Honora Nagle ( – 26 April 1784), known informally as Nano Nagle, was a pioneer of Roman Catholic education in Ireland despite legal prohibitions. She founded the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM), com ...

's establishment of the Ursulines in Cork until 1771 and published a condemnation of the 1766 Cork coopers' riots. Stole fees and other dues were resented and sometimes provided a pretext for Whiteboy violence towards the clergy. Butler issued a declaration, ''Statuta synodalia pro dioecesi Corcagiensi'' (1768), that involvement in the Whiteboys was a reserved sin. He supported the Test Act 1774 and gave substantial financial backing to the '' Catholic Committee''.

Baron Dunboyne

Butler inherited the title of Baron Dunboyne in December 1785 on the death of his nephew Pierce Edmond Creagh Butler, 11th Baron Dunboyne. Butler was childless and the Barony threatened with extinction if he had no heir, but as a priest, he was not permitted to marry. In December 1786, he resigned as bishop and asked the pope for a dispensation from the ban on clerical marriage. The petition was refused. In spite of the refusal, in 1787 he married a cousin, Maria (1764/5-1860), the daughter of Theobald Butler."Rt Rev John Butler, de jure 12th Baron Dunboyne", Cracroft's Peerage
/ref> He took the

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, abjuration, and supremacy. He moved to his ancestral home at Dunboyne, County Meath, where the couple had a daughter who died quite young, and then to Dublin. Dunboyne, and the Catholic chapel, were burned in the

1798 rising The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...

. Dunboyne offered to have it rebuilt at his own expense, and donated his chalice to the parish priest at Fethard. In 1800, an aged and infirm Butler wrote a letter of repentance to the pope, executed a

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, and made his confession to Catholic priest Fr.

William Gahan William Gahan (5 June 1732 in the parish of St. Nicholas, Dublin – 6 December 1804 in the parish of St. Nicolas, Dublin) was an Irish priest and author. Life He entered on his novitiate in the Augustinian Order, on 12 September 1748 and ...

. He died in Dublin and was buried in the

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at Fethard, County Tipperary.

Testamentary litigation

Butler left his property to St Patrick's College, Maynooth and litigation from his family, notably by his sister, Mrs. Catherine O'Brien-Butler of Bansha Castle, County Tipperary, was swift. The legality of the will was challenged as the Penal Laws deprived Catholics of the right to make a will and a sequence of legal actions, such as '' Butler v. Moore'' (1802),Nolan (1913) ensued before a compromise between the college and the family in 1808. The compromise led to the Dunboyne establishment at the college to endow scholarships.

References

Bibliography

* *Nolan, R. S. (1913)
The Law of the Seal of Confession
, ''

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