Clement Moore Butler (1810–1890) was an
Episcopal priest, author, and seminary professor who served as
Chaplain of the Senate from 1850 to 1853.
Early years
Clement Moore Butler was born on October 16, 1810, in
Troy, New York, the son of David Butler and Chloe Jones Butler.[1] He was graduated from
Trinity College,
Hartford, Connecticut, in 1833, and the
General Theological Seminary, New York, in 1836.[2]
Butler was ordained by Bishop
Benjamin Treadwell Onderdonk in June 1837. Onderdonk is alleged to have made improper advances toward Mrs. Butler in a carriage the evening before the ordination. (She was one of a number of women who alleged sexual harassment by the bishop, leading to his suspension.[3])
He served as chaplain of the United States Senate from 1849 till 1853.[5] On April 1, 1850, he delivered the funeral address for Senator
John C. Calhoun.[6] On July 1, 1852, he delivered the funeral address for
Henry Clay, Senator, Congressman, and Secretary of State.[7]
From 1854 to 1857, he was rector of Christ Church,
Cincinnati, Ohio.[8] He then returned to Washington, where he served Trinity Church once more, through 1861. Butler was thereafter chaplain to the United States minister at
Rome, Italy, and the second rector of Grace Church (now St. Paul’s Within the Walls) in Rome (1861–1864).[9]
Butler returned to the United States in 1864, and became professor of ecclesiastical history at the Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church,
Philadelphia. He served until 1884, when he retired due to ill health.[10]
In 1836 Butler married Frances Livingston Hart (1816–1895) in
Washington, DC. They had three children: Frances Livingston Butler, Helen Moore Butler and Clement Moore Butler. Frances was a niece of
Richard Channing Moore, Bishop of Virginia.[11]
Address Delivered by Rev. Clement M. Butler, at the President's Mansion: On the Occasion of the Funeral of Abel P. Upshur, T.W. Gilmer, and Others, who Lost Their Lives by the Explosion on Board the Princeton, February 28, 1844 (Gideon, 1844) On the
USS Princeton (1843) disaster
^Rectors of St. Paul’s, see:
"Archived copy". Archived from
the original on 2009-02-28. Retrieved 2010-01-22.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link)
^Funeral Address on the Death of Abraham Lincoln, delivered in the Church of the Covenant, April 19, 1865.
^"James Livingston, and Some of His Descendants, by J. Wilson Poucher, Duchess County Historical Society Yearbook, Vol. 28, 1943, pp.72–3.