August 8, 1951

Father Francis Butler

Father Francis Lawrence Butler was born on October 23, 1893 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. He received his primary education at Owen’s Square School in Charlottetown and his seminary education at St. Dunstan College, Charlottetown, and at the Grand Seminary, Quebec, Canada. He was ordained for the Diocese of Wichita in Charlottetown on December 23, 1917. His four assignments during his thirty-three years of priesthood were at Caney, McCracken, Dodge City, and Tampa. In 1945 he resigned as pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Dodge City because of heart problems, but in 1948 he again became a pastor at Holy Redeemer Parish in Tampa. He spent the last months of his life at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita where he died on August 8, 1951. Msgr. John Butler, brother of Father Francis and rector of the cathedral, celebrated his Mass of Requiem at the cathedral in Wichita. Burial for Father Butler was in the Cathedral Cemetery in Charlottetown on August 16, 1951.