David Hillhouse Buel (priest)

The Reverend David H. Buel
David Hillhouse Buel in 1908
Personal details
Born	(1862-07-19)July 19, 1862 Watervliet Arsenal, West Troy, New York, U.S.
Died	May 23, 1923(1923-05-23) (aged 60) New York City
Buried	Oakwood Cemetery
Nationality	American
Denomination	Catholic Church Episcopal Church
Alma mater	Yale University (B.A.) Woodstock College

David Hillhouse Buel (July 19, 1862 – May 23, 1923) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit, who served as the President of Georgetown University. Later in life, he left the Catholic Church, married, and became an Episcopal minister. Born at Watervliet Arsenal in New York, he was the son of a distinguished Union Army officer, and descended from numerous prominent New England families that were some of the earliest settlers of the United States. While studying at Yale University, he was introduced to Michael McGivney and converted to Catholicism, entering the Society of Jesus after graduation. He spent the next sixteen years teaching at Jesuit institutions throughout the northeast, and studying at Woodstock College.

In 1901, he went to Georgetown University and, upon the sudden removal of the president, took charge of the university in 1905. As president, he promoted intramural sports, constructing Ryan Gymnasium, and effectively undertook a reform of the curriculum and university governance. However, he stoked fierce opposition by the student body and their parents to his institution of uncompromising discipline and curtailment of intercollegiate athletics, which resulted in his removal by the Jesuit superiors in 1908. Buel then performed pastoral work and teaching for several years, before resigning from the Jesuit order in 1912 and secretly marrying in Connecticut. When word reached Washington, D.C., his former Jesuit colleagues publicly condemned him. He resumed teaching, but lived the remainder of his life in poverty. In 1922, Buel was ordained an Episcopal minister, but never took up rectorship of a church, and spent his last years in New York City.

Early life

David Hillhouse Buel was born on July 19, 1862, at Watervliet Arsenal in West Troy, New York. Bearing the same name, his father was David Hillhouse Buel, a graduate of the United States Military Academy, and distinguished Union Army officer. In the Civil War, he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was appointed Chief of Ordnance of the Army of the Tennessee; as a major, he was awarded a brevet. Buel's mother was Josephine Maria Buel née McDougall. She was of Scottish ancestry, and was the daughter of Brigadier General Charles McDougall. His grandfather was a Congregational minister and an 1833 graduate of Williams College.

Buel's ancestry included a number of prominent and influential families, including the McDougalls, Hansons, Wilmers, and Hillhouses, the latter of which produced many statesmen and scholars in Connecticut. The Buel family was also prominent in Connecticut, and was one of the oldest in New England. His earliest American ancestor, William Buel, arrived in 1630 from England. Two of Buel's brothers, Samuel and Clarence, went on to became Episcopal ministers.

Education

Buel as a student at Yale in 1883

Buel attended Williston Seminary in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1879. From there, he then went to Yale University, where he became known by his nickname of Ted. Many of Buel's ancestors attended Yale, including great-great-great-uncle, who graduated in 1773 and was treasurer of the university for fifty years. At Yale, he became interested in theater. He lived with his uncle, William Hillhouse, next door to St. Mary's Church. Along with a number of other Protestant students, Buel began attending Catholic Mass at St. Mary's after chapel services at which Yale required attendance of all students, much to the displeasure of the neighboring Protestants. There, he became friendly with Father Michael J. McGivney. Upon McGivney's suggestion, Buel focused his theatrical interests on the classics, rather than unseemly subjects, such as the minstrel shows that were popular with the students of Yale at the time. Heeding the advice, he wrote Medea: A Travesty, and a musical titled Penikeese; or Cuisine and Cupid. Filled with local jokes, Penikeese became so popular with the students that the musical was staged professionally in New Haven, garnering Buel much attention. His theatrical interest remained with him later in life, and he continued to write operettas.

Conversion to Catholicism

During his sophomore year, Buel's mother converted to Catholicism. This prompted him to give up his Episcopalian faith, and convert to Catholicism shortly thereafter as well, largely guided by McGivney, along with two of his Protestant classmates. In 1883, he graduated from Yale with honors, receiving the degree of with a Bachelor of Arts. He then notified McGivney that he desired to become a priest. Wary that Buel may have arrived at the decision hastily, McGivney instructed him to allow time for reflection before he reached a final decision. Buel arranged to spend the summer traveling in Canada, where he upheld his decision.

Teaching and formation

Upon his return, Buel entered the Society of Jesus and proceeded to the novitiate at West Park, New York, in November 1883, where he remained for a year. While there, he became ill and was sent to St. Francis Xavier College in New York City, where he was given light work as the assistant prefect of discipline. In December 1885, he left the college and took up a professorship of Latin and Ancient Greek at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Buel then studied the classics for a year at the Jesuit novitiate in Frederick, Maryland, before going to Woodstock College for his three years of philosophical studies. In 1890, he returned to New York to become a professor of mechanics, calculus, and physics at Fordham University. The following year, he again joined the faculty of St. Francis Xavier College as a professor of Latin, mathematics, and mechanics, where he remained for four years.

In 1895, he resumed his priestly studies at Woodstock, taking up four years of theology. On June 28, 1898, Buel was ordained a priest by Cardinal James Gibbons at the college. Following his ordination, he became a member of the missionary band of the Jesuits' Maryland-New York province in March 1899. In this position, he was stationed at churches throughout New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, and led retreats for religious orders until September 1900. He spent his tertianship year in Florissant, Missouri, studying ascetical theology.

Buel then went to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he served as a professor of mechanics and physics from 1901 to 1904. He attained the grade of professed father in the Society of Jesus on February 3, 1902, being promoted to Doctor of Divinity. In 1905, he became father minister (vice president) of the university.

Georgetown University

Southern view of the Georgetown University campus circa 1904

When Jerome Daugherty fell ill, Buel was selected to succeed him as President of Georgetown University in 1905. During his tenure, he convened the first alumni advisory committee, which was to solicit input from alumni in the governance of the university, a rarity for Jesuit universities of the time, but a common institution at many public universities and an increasing number of private universities in the country. He was also successful in reducing the university's debt.

Buel also saw that the curriculum was generally improved, including increasing the size of the faculty at the Law Center. During his presidency, the School of Medicine's curriculum was adopted as the standard of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Reform of athletics

Buel oversaw construction of Ryan Gymnasium in 1905.

Continuing the work of his predecessor, Buel reduced the prominence of athletics, de-professionalizing the football, baseball, and track programs, which involved strict limits on intercollegiate travel for athletics. He also considered abolishing the football team altogether, which Columbia University, New York University, and Stanford University had already done, due to a spate of severe injuries and deaths in college football. Nonetheless, students were generally unhappy with the reform.

Though he disfavored intercollegiate athletics, Buel strongly believed in fitness, and promoted intramural sports. He reasoned that athletics should promote the physical fitness of all students, and should not single out a few talented athletes. To this end, he oversaw construction of the Ryan Gymnasium in 1905, for which one of his predecessors, J. Havens Richards, had raised money, and hired the first physical education instructor in 1906.

Discipline

Buel's presidency was characterized by the institution of rigid discipline. One of his measures included putting into place a strict daily schedule by which students were required to abide. In addition to classes, students were obligated to attend study hall, meals, Mass, night prayers, and benediction. Failure to abide by this agenda resulted punishment according to a new demerit system. Despite his general draconian disposition, Buel protested to the Jesuit Superior General that his requirement that students not be allowed off-campus past 10 p.m. was a excessive restriction of the students' liberty that would dissuade students from attending the university.

His rigidity was met with strong opposition by the students, their parents, and faculty. Buel made no allowances for absence from these requirements, even at the request of parents to allow their sons to attend family events, St. Patrick's Day celebrations, or, in one case, to attend the Democratic Party state convention nominating a student's father for Congress. Transgression of his decision to compel attendance resulted in expulsion from the university of a student who had left to act as godfather at the baptism of his sister's child.

Students began protesting these strictures, such as by marching out of campus en masse. Eventually, this began to affect enrollment, with a number of students withdrawing and few matriculating. In 1908, the provincial superior wrote to Rome that Buel had provoked an "armed neutrality" between himself and the students, and that a replacement must be appointed to save Georgetown from "certain impending ruin." Determining that Buel fulfilling another three-year term would result in permanent harm to the university, the provincial sent a slate of three nominees to the Superior General, who selected Joseph J. Himmel in August 1908 to replace Buel. This quick departure was atypical, as presidents usually completed their tenure at the end of an academic year, rather than soon before the start of a new one.

Later life

Parochial work and teaching

Following his abrupt departure from Georgetown, Buel was sent to Philadelphia, where he was made rector of St. Joseph's Church. He became a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and served as chaplain to its District of Columbia Commandery from 1908 to 1909; he later resigned from the order in October 1911. He also became a member of the National Geographic Society.

In 1909, he once again returned to the College of the Holy Cross as a professor of mechanics and physics, but suffered an injury to his ankle, and was unable to assume the position. Therefore, in November of that year, he went to New York City as an assistant parish priest at St. Francis Xavier Church. In February 1910, he was transferred to St. Thomas Manor in Maryland, and became rector of St. Ignatius Church there. Finally, he returned to Washington, D.C., where he worked as a parish priest at St. Aloysius Church and taught at Gonzaga College. There, he officially resigned from the Society of Jesus on July 12, 1912.

Laity and marriage

Center of Allerton, Massachusetts, a summer resort town where Buel and Powers met

On December 30, 1912, Buel secretly married Katherine Frances Powers in New Canaan, Connecticut, to the surprise of even Powers' parents. Powers was the daughter of Edward J. Powers, a contracting mason, from whom she received a considerable inheritance. Her mother, Mary Powers née Conway, was a devout Catholic and raised her children as such, one of whom became a nun. Buel and Powers met at a summer resort in Point Allterton, Massachusetts, in 1912, and began a secret courtship. Following their marriage, they moved to Kip's Bay in Manhattan. Their marriage produced no children.

Meanwhile, the Jesuits at Georgetown were shocked to learn of his marriage through the news, and several senior Jesuits condemned it as inviting criticism of the university by those seeking salacious stories. It was reported in the media that Buel's marriage, which was a violation of his vow of celibacy, automatically severed him from the priesthood and excommunicated him latae sententiae from the Catholic Church. Buel responded to the criticism by writing an open letter to the United Press, stating that he was not a Jesuit at the time of his marriage, having previously tendered his resignation to the Society of Jesus as a member in good standing. He argued that the Jesuits' public criticism of his marriage was a personally motivated departure from their usual policy of secrecy, and cited several former Jesuits who withdrew from the order and received no public condemnation.

Conversion to Episcopalianism

Soon after marrying, Buel moved to Massachusetts, where he taught Latin, Greek, and French at Roxbury Preparatory School from 1913 to 1914. He then opened a summer camp for boys in Allerton Heights, Massachusetts, called Camp Hillhouse-by-the-Sea. From 1915 to 1918, he tutored students at the camp. After leaving the Society of Jesus, Buel lived an impoverished life, so much so that at one point, he almost starved. When visited one winter by William Laurence Sullivan, he said that he was prepared to take any kind of work, including being a guard in the subway.

Buel then sought admittance to the priesthood of the Episcopal Church, of which he was a member before converting to Catholicism in college. On June 2, 1922, he was ordained at St. Thomas' Church in New Haven by Bishop Chauncey B. Brewster of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut. However, he became ill, and was unable to accept a rectorship of an Episcopal church.

For part of 1922, he lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut, before returning to New York City in November of that year, where he lived out the rest of his life. Eventually, he became ill, and one of the local Catholic priests visited him at his bedside the day before his death to offer him last rites and hear his confession; Buel, who could no longer speak, refused. Buel died of pneumonia on May 23, 1923, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, New York.

References

Sources

• "Alumni Notes". Yale Alumni Weekly: 1223–1242. 1922. OCLC 702551761. Archived from the original on August 21, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2019 – via Google Books.
• Brinkley, Douglas; Fenster, Julie M. (2006). Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism. New York: William Morrow. pp. 79–80, 130, 163–164, 167, 206. ISBN 978-0-06-077684-8. Archived from the original on August 21, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2019 – via Google Books. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Curran, Robert Emmett (2010). A History of Georgetown University: The Quest for Excellence, 1889–1964. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-1-58901-689-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• District of Columbia: Concise Biographies of Its Prominent and Representative Contemporary Citizens, and Valuable Statistical Data, 1908–1909. American Biographical Directories. Washington, D.C.: The Potomac Press. 1908. OCLC 8580589. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019 – via Google Books.
• Hillhouse, Margaret P. (1924). Historical and Genealogical Collections Relating to the Descendants of Rev. James Hillhouse. New York: Tobias A. Wright. OCLC 246178018. Retrieved August 21, 2019 – via Internet Archive. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Obituary Record of Graduates Deceased During the Year Ending July 1, 1920. Bulletin of Yale University. Vol. 7. New Haven: Yale University. 1921. pp. 735–737. OCLC 460903293. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019 – via Google Books.
• Sullivan, William Laurence (1945). Under Orders. New York: Richard D. Smith. OCLC 3919415. Retrieved August 21, 2019 – via Internet Archive. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Weise, Arthur James (1886). The City of Troy and Its Vicinity. Troy, New York: Edward Green. OCLC 475785185. Archived from the original on August 26, 2019. Retrieved August 26, 2019 – via Google Books. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• David Hillhouse Buel at Find a Grave
• Buel, David Hillhouse (1908). A Menace to Georgetown. A Blue and Gray Book. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University. OCLC 24490436. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019 – via Google Books.