BUTLER, ALBAN. - English hagiographer, born in Appletree in the county of Northampton on 24 Oct. 1710, died at St-Omer (France) on 15 May 1773. He studied at the English College in Douai (France), where he was ordained priest in 1735. There he later taught philosophy and theology. In 1745 he traveled to France and Italy, then worked for some time as a missionary in his homeland. He was appointed president of the English seminary at St-Omer, which had previously been run by the Jesuits, who had been expelled from France by the government.
Butler wrote several works, but he is especially famous for *The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints*, the fruit of more than 25 years of labor. It is a popular collection of saints’ lives arranged according to the liturgical calendar. It was published without the author’s name or his notes, in 5 volumes, in London between 1754 and 1759. After his death many editions appeared, including the author’s notes: for example, in Dublin (1779–80) and Edinburgh (1798–1800). Later editions were continually updated. The latest English edition is that of H. Thurston (with collaborators N. Celston and D. Attwater), London 1926–1938 in 12 volumes. D. Attwater compiled the general index, London 1938.
There were also numerous translations. These increasingly altered the original work of Butler by adding new saints and especially national saints not mentioned in the English edition. The first translation was the French one by Godescard (Paris 1763–1788), followed by many other editions printed in France (e.g., Versailles 1818–1820), in Belgium (Louvain 1828–33, Brussels 1854), etc. Butler’s work was also translated into German (Mainz 1823–27) and Spanish. The Italian translations were based on the French versions (Venice 1823–26, in 20 volumes; ibid. 1837–63 in 15 volumes); however, the final volumes of these editions are little more than appendices: thus volume XIII of the last edition contains another treatise by Butler: *Feste mobili, digiuni ed altre osservanze annuali della Chiesa Cattolica* (a posthumous work published in 1774 under the title *Movable Fests and Fasts); volume XV contains, among other things, the indices and Butler’s life.
An English compendium was also translated into Italian: *Le feste del Signore e della B. Vergine*, an original English work... (4 volumes, Monza 1833).
Butler’s life was written by his nephew Charles Butler, *An Account of the Life and Writings of the Rev. A. B.*, (London 1799). In Italian it appears in volume XX of the Venice edition of 1826, pp. 3–61, and in volume XV of the Venice edition of 1863, pp. 99–131.