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American Trappist monk (1915–1968)
For the English physicist, see
Thomas Ralph Merton
Not to be confused with
Thomas Manton
or
Thomas Morten
The Reverend
Thomas Merton
OCSO
Born
1915-01-31
January 31, 1915
Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales
, France
Died
December 10, 1968
(1968-12-10)
(aged 53)
Mueang Samut Prakan
, Thailand
Citizenship
United States
Alma mater
Columbia University
Occupations
Trappist monk
author
Religion
Christianity (
Roman Catholic
Church
Latin Church
Ordained
May 26, 1949
(1949-05-26)
(aged 34)
Writings
The Seven Storey Mountain
(1948)
Part of
a series
on
Christian mysticism
Theology and philosophy
Apophatic
Ascetical
Cataphatic
Catholic spirituality
Hellenistic
Mystical theology
Neoplatonic
Henosis
Practices
Monasticism
Asceticism
Mendicant
Stylite
Eastern
New
Silence
Spiritual direction
Meditation
Meditation
Lectio Divina
Invoking of Mystic Saints
Active asceticism
Contemplation
Hesychasm
Jesus Prayer
Quietism
Stages of Christian perfection
Hesychia
Divinization
Catharsis
Theosis
Kenosis
Spiritual dryness
Religious ecstasy
Passive asceticism
Abstinence
Esoteric
Charismatic
Martinism
People
(by era or century)
Antiquity
Ancient African
Origen
Thomasines
Gregory of Nyssa
Pseudo-Dionysius
Desert Fathers
Paul of Thebes
Anthony the Great
Arsenius the Great
Poemen
Macarius of Egypt
Moses the Black
Syncletica
Athanasius
John Chrysostom
Hilarion
John Cassian
11th
12th
Bernard of Clairvaux
Guigo II
Hildegard of Bingen
Symeon the New Theologian
Saint Sava of Serbia
13th
14th
Dominican
Dominic de Guzmán
Franciscan
Francis of Assisi
Anthony of Padua
Bonaventure
Jacopone da Todi
Angela of Foligno
Richard Rolle
Walter Hilton
Julian of Norwich
Margery Kempe
Flemish
Beatrice of Nazareth
Lutgardis
Hadewijch
John van Ruysbroeck
German
Meister Eckhart
Johannes Tauler
Henry Suso
Female
Beatrice of Nazareth
Bridget of Sweden
Catherine of Siena
Gertrude the Great
Mechthild of Magdeburg
Marguerite Porete
15th
16th
Spanish
Ignatius of Loyola
Francisco de Osuna
John of Ávila
Teresa of Ávila
John of the Cross
Others
Catherine of Genoa
17th
18th
French
Margaret Mary Alacoque
Pierre de Bérulle
Jean-Jacques Olier
Louis de Montfort
Charles de Condren
John Eudes
John of St. Samson
Others
Mary of Jesus of Ágreda
Paul of the Cross
Anne Catherine Emmerich
Veronica Giuliani
Francis de Sales
19th
Dina Bélanger
Catherine Labouré
Mélanie Calvat
Maximin Giraud
Bernadette Soubirous
Conchita de Armida
Luisa Piccarreta
Mary of the Divine Heart
Thérèse of Lisieux
Gemma Galgani
20th
Padre Pio
Therese Neumann
Marthe Robin
Alexandrina of Balazar
Faustina Kowalska
Sister Lúcia of Fátima
Edgar Cayce
Simone Weil
Alfred Delp
Thomas Merton
Charles de Foucauld
Edvige Carboni
Elena Aiello
Contemporary papal views
Aspects of meditation
Orationis Formas
, 1989)
Reflection on the New Age
(2003)
Literature and media
Lingua ignota
Ordo Virtutum
Scivias
Ascent of Mount Carmel
Dark Night of the Soul
Spiritual Canticle
Way of Perfection
Book of the First Monks
The Interior Castle
Abbey of the Holy Ghost
A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation
From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart
The Glories of Mary
The Imitation of Christ
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
Philokalia
Revelations of Divine Love
The Story of a Soul
Theologia Germanica
Devotio Moderna
Fatima in Lucia's Own Words
Calls from the Message of Fatima
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima
Sol de Fátima
The Cloud of Unknowing
On the Consolation of Philosophy
The Mirror of Simple Souls
Sister Catherine Treatise
Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii
The Vision of Adamnán
Divine Comedy
Inferno
Purgatorio
Paradiso
Fatima
Thomas Merton
OCSO
(January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968),
religious name
M. Louis, was an American
Trappist
monk, theologian,
mystic
, poet, and social activist. He was a professed member of the
Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani
, near
Bardstown, Kentucky
, living there from 1941 to his death.
Merton wrote more than 50 books in a period of 27 years, mostly on
spirituality
social justice
, and
pacifism
, as well as scores of
essays
and reviews. Among Merton's most widely-read works is his bestselling autobiography
The Seven Storey Mountain
(1948).
Merton became a keen proponent of
interfaith
understanding, exploring Eastern religions through study and practice. He pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures.
Early life
edit
Thomas Merton was born in
Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales
, France, on January 31, 1915, to parents of Welsh origin:
Owen Merton
, a New Zealand painter active in Europe and the United States, and Ruth Jenkins Merton, an American
Quaker
and artist. They had met at a painting school in Paris.
He was
baptized
in the
Church of England
, in accordance with his father's wishes.
Merton's father was often absent during his son's childhood.
During
World War I
, in August 1915, the Merton family left France for the United States. They lived first with Ruth's parents in
Queens
, New York, and then settled near them in
Douglaston
. In 1917, the family moved into an old house in
Flushing
, Queens, where Merton's brother, John Paul, was born on November 2, 1918.
The family was considering returning to France when Ruth was diagnosed with
stomach cancer
. She died from it on October 21, 1921, in
Bellevue Hospital
. Merton was six years old and his brother not yet three.
In 1926, when Merton was eleven, his father enrolled him in a boys'
boarding school
in
Montauban
, the Lycée Ingres. In the summer of 1928, he withdrew Merton from Lycée Ingres, saying the family was moving to England.
College
edit
In October 1933, Merton, age 18, entered
Clare College, Cambridge
, as an undergraduate to study French and Italian.
He was unhappy at Clare College, preferring loafing over studying, and fathered a child whom he never met,
although he later signed at least two official court documents stating that he had "no children".
In January 1935, Merton enrolled as a sophomore at
Columbia University
in New York City. There he established close and long-lasting friendships with the painter
Ad Reinhardt
poet
Robert Lax
commentator
Ralph de Toledano
10
and the law student
John Slate
11
He also befriended the publisher
Robert Giroux
12
Merton attended an 18th-century English literature course during the spring semester taught by
Mark Van Doren
, a professor with whom he maintained a lifetime friendship.
13
At Columbia, he joined the
Alpha Delta Phi
fraternity.
14
Corpus Christi Church, W. 121st St.
In January 1938, Merton graduated from Columbia with a
B.A.
in English. In June, his friend Seymour Freedgood arranged a meeting with
Mahanambrata Brahmachari
, a
Hindu
monk visiting New York from the
University of Chicago
. Merton was impressed by him. While Merton expected Brahmachari to recommend Hinduism, instead he advised Merton to reconnect with Christianity. He suggested Merton read the
Confessions
of
Augustine
and
The Imitation of Christ
. Merton read them both.
15
In August 1938, he attended
Mass
at
Corpus Christi Church
, located near the Columbia campus. He began to read more extensively in Catholicism.
16
On November 16, 1938, Thomas Merton underwent the rite of confirmation at Corpus Christi Church and received
Holy Communion
17
On February 22, 1939, Merton received his
M.A.
in English from Columbia University. Merton decided he would pursue his
PhD
at Columbia and moved from Douglaston to
Greenwich Village
. He then discerned a call to
religious life
Franciscan intellectual tradition
edit
After converting to Catholicism, Merton was accepted by the Franciscan Order, and intended to enter the Franciscan novitiate until he was instructed to withdraw his application.
18
Dejected, he looked for a job and was hired to teach at St. Bonaventure University, founded by the Franciscans on the outskirts of Olean, New York. During this period Merton renounced any remnants of an unchaste lifestyle and delved into prayer and spirituality.
19
20
Merton found a welcoming atmosphere and spiritual guidance from Franciscan mentors like Fathers Irenaeus Herscher,
21
Thomas Plassman,
22
and Philotheus Boehner,
23
while joining the Third Order (Secular Franciscans) as a way to live out Franciscan ideals.
24
25
He attended
St. Mary of the Angels Church
in Olean to pray and to go to confession.
26
At the close of 1940, he stopped into St. Mary of the Angels one last time to pray the stations of the cross before boarding the train taking him to the
Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani
27
28
Monastic life
edit
Thomas Merton's hermitage at The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani
On December 10, 1941, Thomas Merton arrived at the
Abbey of Gethsemani
and spent three days at the monastery guest house, waiting for acceptance into the order. On December 13 he was accepted into the monastery as a
postulant
by Frederic Dunne, Gethsemani's abbot since 1935, and given the
religious name
Mary Louis
. Merton had a severe cold from his stay in the guest house, where he sat in front of an open window to prove his sincerity. During his initial weeks at Gethsemani, Merton studied the Trappist
sign language
and daily work and worship routine.
In March 1942, during the first Sunday of
Lent
, Merton was accepted as a
novice
. In June, he received a letter from his brother John Paul stating he was soon to leave for the war and would be coming to Gethsemani to visit before leaving. On July 17 John Paul arrived in Gethsemani. John Paul expressed his desire to become a Catholic, and by July 26 was baptized at a church in nearby
New Haven, Kentucky
, leaving the following day. This would be the last time the two saw each other. John Paul died on April 17, 1943, when his plane failed over the
English Channel
. A poem by Merton to John Paul appears in
The Seven Storey Mountain
Writer
edit
Merton kept journals throughout his stay at Gethsemani. Initially, he felt writing to be at odds with his vocation, worried it would foster a tendency to individuality. But his superior, Dunne, tasked Merton beginning in 1943 to translate religious texts and write biographies of saints.
On March 19, 1944, Merton made his temporary
vows
and was given the black
scapular
and leather belt. In November 1944 a manuscript Merton had given to friend
Robert Lax
the previous year was published by
James Laughlin
at
New Directions
: a book of
poetry
titled
Thirty Poems
29
In 1946 New Directions published another poetry collection by Merton,
A Man in the Divided Sea
, which, combined with
Thirty Poems
, attracted some recognition for him. The same year Merton's manuscript for
The Seven Storey Mountain
was accepted by
Harcourt Brace & Company
The Seven Storey Mountain
, Merton's
autobiography
, was written during two-hour intervals in the monastery
scriptorium
as a personal project.
30
On March 19, 1947, he took his solemn vows, binding for life. He also began corresponding with a
Carthusian
at
St. Hugh's Charterhouse
in England. Merton had harbored an appreciation for the Carthusian order since coming to Gethsemani in 1941, and would later come to consider leaving the Cistercians for that order.
31
In 1948
The Seven Storey Mountain
was published to critical acclaim, with fan mail to Merton reaching new heights. Merton also published several works for the monastery that year, which were:
Guide to Cistercian Life
Cistercian Contemplatives
Figures for an Apocalypse
, and
The Spirit of Simplicity
. That year
Saint Mary's College (Indiana)
also published a booklet by Merton,
What Is Contemplation?
Merton published as well that year a biography,
Exile Ends in Glory: The Life of a Trappistine, Mother M. Berchmans, O.C.S.O
. Merton's abbot, Dunne, died on August 3, 1948, while riding on a train to
Georgia
. Dunne's passing was painful for Merton, who had come to look on the abbot as a father figure and spiritual mentor. On August 15 the monastic community elected Dom James Fox, a former
US Navy
officer, as their new abbot. In October Merton discussed with him his ongoing attraction to the Carthusian and
Camaldolese
orders and their
eremitical
way of life, to which Fox responded by assuring Merton that he belonged at Gethsemani. Fox permitted Merton to continue his writing, Merton now having gained substantial recognition outside the monastery. On December 21 Merton was ordained as a
subdeacon
. From 1948 on, Merton identified himself as an
anarchist
32
On January 5, 1949, Merton took a train to
Louisville
and applied for American citizenship. Published that year were
Seeds of Contemplation
The Tears of Blind Lions
The Waters of Siloe
33
and the British edition of
The Seven Storey Mountain
under the title
Elected Silence
. On March 19, Merton became a deacon in the order, and on May 26 (
Ascension Thursday
) he was ordained a priest, saying his first Mass the following day. In June, the monastery celebrated its
centenary
, for which Merton authored the book
Gethsemani Magnificat
in commemoration. In November, Merton started teaching
mystical theology
to novices at Gethsemani, a duty he greatly enjoyed. By this time Merton was a huge success outside the monastery,
The Seven Storey Mountain
having sold over 150,000 copies. It is on
National Review
s list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the twentieth century.
34
In this particularly prolific period of his life, Merton is believed to have been suffering from
loneliness
and
stress
. One incident indicative of this is his drive with the monastery's jeep, acting in a possibly
manic
state, during which he almost caused a head-on collision.
35
In 1953 he published a journal of monastery life titled
The Sign of Jonas
. Merton became well known for his dialogues with other faiths and his non-violent stand during the
race riots
and
Vietnam War
of the 1960s. By this time, he had adopted a broadly human viewpoint, concerned about issues like peace, racial tolerance, and social equality. In a letter to Nicaraguan liberation theologian
Ernesto Cardenal
(who had entered Gethsemani but left in 1959 to study theology in Mexico), Merton wrote:
The world is full of great criminals with enormous power, and they are in a death struggle with each other. It is a huge gang battle, using well-meaning lawyers and policemen and clergymen as their front, controlling papers, means of communication, and enrolling everybody in their armies.
36
He developed a personal radicalism which was political but not overtly sympathetic to Marxism, even though his Cistercian critic
Louis Lekai
identified Merton's "adherence to Marxian slogans".
37
Merton was above all devoted to non-violence. He regarded his viewpoint as based on "simplicity" and expressed it as a Christian sensibility. His
New Seeds of Contemplation
was published in 1961.
Merton finally achieved the solitude he had long desired while living in a
hermitage
on the monastery grounds in 1965. Over the years he had occasional battles with some of his
abbots
about not being allowed out of the monastery despite his international reputation and voluminous correspondence with many well-known figures of the day.
At the end of 1968, the new abbot, Flavian Burns, allowed him to undertake a tour of Asia, during which he met the
Dalai Lama
in India on three occasions, and also the
Tibetan Buddhist
Dzogchen
master
Chatral Rinpoche
, followed by a solitary retreat near
Darjeeling
, India. In Darjeeling, he befriended
Tsewang Yishey Pemba
, a prominent member of the Tibetan community.
38
Then, in what was to be his final letter, he noted:
In my contacts with these new friends, I also feel a consolation in my own faith in Christ and in his dwelling presence. I hope and believe he may be present in the hearts of all of us.
39
Merton's role as a writer is explored in novelist
Mary Gordon
's
On Merton
(2019).
40
Personal life
edit
The grave of Thomas Merton. His grave marker reads "Fr. Louis Merton, died Dec. 10, 1968".
According to
The Seven Storey Mountain
, the youthful Merton loved
jazz
, but by the time he began his first teaching job he had forsaken all but peaceful music. Later in life, whenever he was permitted to leave Gethsemani for medical or monastic reasons, he would catch what live jazz he could, mainly in Louisville or New York.
In April 1966, Merton underwent surgery to treat debilitating back pain. While recuperating in a Louisville hospital, he fell in love with Margie Smith,
41
a student nurse assigned to his care. (He referred to her in his diary as "M.") He wrote poems to her and reflected on the relationship in "A Midsummer Diary for M." Merton struggled to maintain his vows while being deeply in love. It is not known if he ever consummated the relationship.
note 1
Death
edit
On December 10, 1968, Merton was at a
Red Cross
retreat facility named
Sawang Khaniwat
Thai
สวางคนิวาส
) in
Samut Prakan
, a province near
Bangkok
, Thailand, attending a monastic conference.
42
43
44
After giving a talk at the morning session, he was found dead later in the afternoon in the room of his cottage, lying on his back with a standing fan having fallen and lying across his body. A police test revealed that a "defective electric cord was installed inside its stand. ... The flow of electricity was strong enough to cause the death of a person if he touched the metal part."
45
His associate, Jean Leclercq, stated: "In all probability the death of Thomas Merton was due in part to heart failure, in part to an electric shock."
46
Since there was no
autopsy
, there was no suitable explanation for the wound in the back of Merton's head, "which had bled considerably".
47
Arriving from the cottage next to Merton's, the Primate of the Benedictine order and presiding officer of the conference,
Rembert Weakland
anointed
Merton.
48
Merton's body was flown back to the United States on board a US military aircraft returning from Vietnam. He is buried at the Gethsemani Abbey.
citation needed
The Spring 2024 issue of
The Catholic Historical Review
published "The Official Thai Reports on Thomas Merton's Death". The official cause of death was a natural cause, "sudden heart failure" and not "accidental electrocution". The police report states that Merton was dead before he came into contact with a faulty fan that was found lying across his body.
49
Spirituality beyond Catholicism
edit
Eastern religions
edit
Merton was first exposed to and became interested in
Eastern religions
when he read
Aldous Huxley
's
Ends and Means
in 1937, the year before his conversion to
Catholicism
50
Throughout his life, he studied
Buddhism
Confucianism
Taoism
Hinduism
Sikhism
Jainism
, and
Sufism
in addition to his academic and monastic studies.
51
While Merton was not interested in what these traditions had to offer as doctrines and institutions, he was interested in what each said of the depth of human experience. He believed that for the most part, Christianity had forsaken its mystical tradition in favor of
Cartesian
emphasis on "the reification of concepts, idolization of the reflexive consciousness, flight from being into verbalism, mathematics, and rationalization".
52
Of all of the Eastern traditions, Merton wrote most about
Zen
. Having studied the
Desert Fathers
and other Christian mystics, he found parallels between the language of Christian mystics and Zen philosophy.
53
In 1959, Merton began a dialogue with
D. T. Suzuki
which was published nearly ten years later in Merton's
Zen and the Birds of Appetite
as "Wisdom in Emptiness". Merton wrote then that "any attempt to handle Zen in theological language is bound to miss the point", calling his final statements "an example of how not to approach Zen".
54
Merton struggled to reconcile the Western and Christian impulse to catalog and put into words with the ideas of Christian
apophatic theology
and the unspeakable nature of the Zen experience. Zhong Fushi mentions having met Merton, who allegedly said to him, "Zen, is a way of perceiving the substantial reality of all things—their goodness, their beauty, and their oneness (ichinyo)." Zhong interpreted this as Merton aligning Zen Buddhism with an enlightenment of the Aristotelean-Thomistic transcendentals common to everything that has or is or will exist.
55
In keeping with his idea that non-Christian faiths had much to offer Christianity in experience and perspective and little or nothing in terms of doctrine, Merton distinguished between Zen Buddhism, an expression of history and culture, and Zen.
53
By Zen, Merton meant something not bound by culture, religion or belief. Merton was influenced by Aelred Graham's book
Zen Catholicism
of 1963.
56
note 2
American Indian spirituality
edit
Merton also explored
American Indian
spirituality. He wrote a series of articles on American Indian history and spirituality for
The Catholic Worker
The Center Magazine
Theoria to Theory
, and
Unicorn Journal
57
He explored themes such as American Indian
fasting
58
and
missionary
work.
59
Legacy
edit
Marker commemorating Thomas Merton in Louisville, Kentucky
Merton's influence has grown since his death, and he is widely recognized as an important 20th-century Catholic
mystic
and thinker.
60
61
However, some scholars question his lineage as a mystic, and assert Merton is known primarily as a writer on contemplation rather than on mysticism.
62
Interest in his work contributed to a rise in spiritual exploration beginning in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States. Merton's letters and diaries reveal the intensity with which their author focused on social justice issues, including the civil rights movement and
proliferation of nuclear arms
63
He had prohibited their publication for 25 years after his death. Publication raised new interest in Merton's life.
64
The
Abbey of Gethsemani
benefits from the royalties of Merton's writing.
65
In addition, his writings attracted much interest in Catholic practice and thought, and in the
Trappist
vocation.
In recognition of Merton's close association with
Bellarmine University
, the university established an official repository for Merton's archives at the
Thomas Merton Center
on the Bellarmine campus in
Louisville, Kentucky
66
The
Thomas Merton Award
, a peace prize, has been awarded since 1972 by the
Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Social Justice
in
Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania.
67
In tribute to the centennial of Merton's birth, The Festival of Faiths in Louisville in 2015 honored his life and work with
Sacred Journey's the Legacy of Thomas Merton
68
An annual lecture in his name is given at his alma mater,
Columbia University
in which the Columbia chaplaincy invites a prominent Catholic to speak.
69
The campus ministry building at
St. Bonaventure University
, the school where Merton taught English briefly between graduating from Columbia University with his M.A. in English and entering the Trappist order, is named after him. St. Bonaventure University also holds an important repository of Merton materials worldwide.
70
Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School
in downtown
Toronto, Ontario
, Canada, which was formerly named St. Joseph's Commercial and was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph, is named in part after him.
71
Some of Merton's manuscripts that include correspondence with his superiors are located in the library of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in
Conyers, Georgia
Antony Theodore
has provided details of his encounters with Asian spiritual leaders and the influence of
Confucianism
Taoism
Zen Buddhism
and
Hinduism
on Merton's mysticism and philosophy of contemplation.
72
Merton was one of four Americans mentioned by
Pope Francis
in his speech to a joint meeting of the
United States Congress
on September 24, 2015. Francis said:
Merton was above all a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the Church. He was also a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions.
73
In 2023, Columbia University opened the Thomas Merton Institute for Catholic Life at the
Church of Notre Dame
74
75
In November 1974, the Thomas Merton Family Center in
Bridgeport, Connecticut
, was founded as the Thomas Merton House of Hospitality, inspired by Merton's life, writings, and commitment to social justice. Established by a small prayer group led by Sacred Heart University's Fr. John Giuliani and student volunteers, the center opened in an abandoned fire station and offered sit-down meals to individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness. Over the decades the program expanded into a comprehensive service hub, now known as the Thomas Merton Family Center, providing a soup kitchen, food pantry, case management, shower facilities, and additional support services for vulnerable residents of Bridgeport.
76
In popular culture
edit
Merton's life was the subject of
The Glory of the World
, a play by
Charles L. Mee
Roy Cockrum
, a former monk who won the Powerball lottery in 2014, helped finance the production of the play in New York. Prior to New York the play was shown in Louisville, Kentucky.
77
In the 2017 movie
First Reformed
, written and directed by
Paul Schrader
Ethan Hawke
's character (a middle-aged
Protestant
minister) is influenced by Merton's work.
78
The title of the 2004 film
Original Child Bomb
comes from Merton's poem of the same name.
See also
edit
International Thomas Merton Society
List of works about Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton bibliography
Notes
edit
This issue is discussed in detail in
Shaw, Mark (2009).
Beneath The Mask of Holiness
. Palgrave Macmillan.
ISBN
978-0-230-61653-0
In
Learning to Love
, Merton's diary entries discuss his various meetings with Smith. In several cases he expressly denies sexual consummation, e.g. p. 52. On June 11, 1966, Merton arranged to 'borrow' the Louisville office of his psychologist, Dr. James Wygal, to get together with Smith, see p. 81. The diary entry for that day notes that they had a bottle of champagne. A parenthetical with dots at that point in the narrative indicates that further details regarding this meeting were not published in
Learning to Love.
In the June 14 entry, Merton notes that he had found out the night before that a brother at the abbey had overheard one of his phone conversations with Smith and had reported it to Dom James, Abbot of Gethsemani. Merton wondered which phone conversation had been monitored, saying that one he had the morning following his meeting with Smith at Wygal's office would be "the worst!!", see p. 82. Merton's June 14 entry note his discussions with Abbot James on this matter, and his intent to follow the Abbot's instruction to end his romantic relationship with M. In his entry for July 12, 1966, Merton says regarding Smith,
"Yet there is no question I love her deeply ... I keep remembering her body, her nakedness, the day at Wygal's, and it haunts me ... I could have been enslaved to the need for her body after all. It is a good thing I called it off [i.e., a proposed visit by Smith to Gethsemani to speak with Merton there following their break-up]." See p. 94.
Learning to Love
reveals that Merton remained in contact with Marge after his July 12, 1966, entry (p.94) and after he recommitted himself to his vows (p. 110). He saw her again on July 16, 1966, and wrote:
She says she thinks of me all the time (as I do of her) and her only fear is that being apart and not having news of each other, we may gradually cease to believe that we are loved, that the other's love for us goes on and is real. As I kissed her she kept saying, 'I am happy, I am at peace now.' And so was I" (p. 97).
Despite good intentions, he continued to contact her by phone when he left the monastery grounds. He wrote on January 18, 1967, that "last week" he and two friends "drank some beer under the loblollies at the lake—should not have gone to Bardstown and Willett's in the evening. Conscience stricken for this the next day. Called M. from filling station outside Bardstown. Both glad" (p. 186).
"Can a philosophy of life which originated in India centuries before Christ—still accepted as valid, in one or other of its many variants, by several hundred millions of our contemporaries—be of service to Catholics, or those interested in Catholicism, in elucidating certain aspects of the Church's own message? The possibility cannot be ruled out."
Graham, Aelred (1963).
Zen Catholicism: A Suggestion
. Harvest book. Vol. 118. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Brace & World. p. 10.
OCLC
646509643
Archived
from the original on January 26, 2021
. Retrieved
July 20,
2019
References
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Jacobs, Alan (December 28, 2018).
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The Seven Storey Mountain
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When Prophecy Still Had a Voice: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Robert Lax
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Ziolkowski, Jan M. (2018).
"The Juggler of Notre Dame and the Medievalizing of Modernity. Volume 6: War and Peace, Sex and Violence"
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"Slate, John H., 1913–1967 – Correspondence"
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The Letters of Robert Giroux and Thomas Merton
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doi
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ISBN
978-0-268-01786-6
JSTOR
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Archived
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2021
Ledbetter, J. T. (1996).
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"Mahanambrata Brahmachari Is Dead at 95"
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King, David A. (October 17, 2019).
"Thomas Merton and the doors of Corpus Christi Church - Georgia Bulletin"
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2024
Thomas Merton's paradise journey: writings on contemplation,
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"Pope names St. Mary of the Angels Church in Olean a basilica"
Buffalo Toronto Public Media
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The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton
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Cunningham, Lawrence S.; Martin, James; Weis, Monica; Weiss, Monica; Pycior, Julie Leininger (2015).
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ISSN
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JSTOR
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Grayston, Donald (May 19, 2015).
Thomas Merton and the Noonday Demon: The Camaldoli Correspondence
. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 56.
ISBN
978-1-4982-0937-3
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Thomas Merton and the Inclusive Imagination
. University of Missouri Press. p.
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978-0-8262-6279-0
. Retrieved
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Lekai claims that Siloe was Merton's "only truly historical work". Lekai, Louis (1978). "Thomas Merton - the Historian?". Cistercian Studies. 13 (4): 387.
The 100 best non-fiction books of the century
Archived
February 15, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine
National Review
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The Wounded Heart of Thomas Merton
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he had recourse to worn-out clichés (borrowed mostly from Marx), or quoted traditionally accepted views without attempting to look more deeply into the subject.
Merton, Thomas (February 1975).
The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton
New Directions
ISBN
0-8112-0570-3
"Religion: Mystic's Last Journey"
TIME
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On Merton
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February 9,
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"Book on monk Thomas Merton's love affair stirs debate"
USA Today
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Archived
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Forest, Jim
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Living with Wisdom: A Life of Thomas Merton
. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. p. 211.
ISBN
0-88344-755-X
LCCN
91-21922
Moffitt, John, ed. (1970).
A New Charter For Monasticism
. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press. p. 334.
LCCN
70-122049
Chotiphatphaisal, Netiwit
(July 8, 2022).
"Petition in support of Thomas Merton Memorial in Thailand"
Netiwit.com
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Forest, Jim
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Living with Wisdom: A Life of Thomas Merton
. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. pp.
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LCCN
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Weakland, Rembert (2009).
A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church
. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 166.
ISBN
9780802863829
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Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
p. 285.
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p. 105.
Zen and the Birds of Appetite
p. 139.
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"The Zen Letters"
Private
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Ishi Means Man
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Archived
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Ishi Means Man
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Merton: Mystic at the Center of America
Liturgical Press
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Thomas Merton: Monk on the Edge
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Religion and American Culture
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doi
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JSTOR
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S2CID
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"20th Festival of Faiths honors Merton"
The Courier-Journal
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"Columbia250 Celebrates Colmbians Ahead of Their Time"
Columbia University
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OCLC
30320691
"Address of the Holy Father"
The Vatican
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Archived
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Vance, Shea.
"Columbia Catholic Ministry opens University's first Catholic center – Columbia Spectator"
Columbia Daily Spectator
Archived
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Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture
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Archived
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2023
"Thomas Merton Center Celebrates Fifty Years of Serving the Community"
Catholic Charities of Fairfield County
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'Glory Of The World' Is More Wacky Birthday Party Than Traditional Play"
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Archived
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Jones, J.R.
"Paul Schrader's First Reformed finds pride at the root of despair"
Chicago Reader
Archived
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June 12,
2018
Further reading
edit
2022 – Smelcer, John,
Enacting Love: How Thomas Merton Died for Peace
(2022), Naciketas Press,
ISBN
978-1952232671
2021 – Hillis, Gregory K.,
Man of Dialogue: Thomas Merton's Catholic Vision
(2021), Liturgical Press,
ISBN
978-0814684603
2021 – Sweeney, Jon M.,
Thomas Merton: An Introduction to His Life, Teachings, and Practices
(2021), Essentials,
ISBN
978-1250250483
2019 – Gordon, Mary,
On Merton
(2019), Shambhala Publications,
ISBN
978-1611803372
2017 – Merton, Thomas and Paul M. Pearson.
Beholding Paradise: The Photographs of Thomas Merton.
Paulist Press.
2015 – Lipsey, Roger.
Make Peace before the Sun Goes Down: The Long Encounter of Thomas Merton and His Abbot, James Fox
. Boulder, CO. Shambhala Publications
ISBN
978-1611802252
2014 – Shaw, Jeffrey M.
Illusions of Freedom: Thomas Merton and Jacques Ellul on Technology and the Human Condition
. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock.
ISBN
978-1625640581
2014 –
Horan, Daniel
The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton: A New Look at the Spiritual Inspiration of His Life, Thought, and Writing
Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press. (2014).
ISBN
978-1594714221
2008 – Graham, Terry,
The Strange Subject – Thomas Merton's Views on Sufism
. Archived from
the original
on June 20, 2010
. Retrieved
October 24,
2008
, 2008,
SUFI: a journal of Sufism
, Issue 30.
2007 –
Deignan, Kathleen
A Book of Hours: At Prayer With Thomas Merton
(2007), Sorin Books,
ISBN
1-933495-05-7
2006 – Weis, Monica, Paul M. Pearson, Kathleen P. Deignan,
Beyond the Shadow and the Disguise: Three Essays on Thomas Merton
(2006), The Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain and Ireland,
ISBN
0-9551571-1-0
2003 – Merton, Thomas, Kathleen Deignan Ed., John Giuliani,
Thomas Berry
When The Trees Say Nothing
(2003), Sorin Books,
ISBN
1-893732-60-6
2002 – Shannon, William H., Christine M. Bochen, Patrick F. O'Connell
The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia
(2002), Orbis Books,
ISBN
1-57075-426-8
1997 – Merton, Thomas, "Learning to Love",
The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume Six 1966–1967
(1997),
ISBN
0-06-065485-6
. (see notes for page numbers)
1993 –
Theodore, Antony
Thomas Merton's Mystical Quest for Union with God
(1993), Ventura Verlaghaus,
ISBN
978-38-809676-3-2
1992 – Shannon, William H.,
Silent Lamp: The Thomas Merton Story
(1992), The Crossroad Publishing Company,
ISBN
0-8245-1281-2
, biography.
1991 – Forest, Jim,
Living With Wisdom: A Life of Thomas Merton (revised edition)
(2008), Orbis Books,
ISBN
978-1-57075-754-9
, illustrated biography.
1984 – Mott, Michael,
The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton
(1984), Harvest Books 1993:
ISBN
0-15-680681-9
, authorized biography.
1978 – Merton, Thomas,
The Seven Storey Mountain
(1978), A Harvest/HBJ Book,
ISBN
0-15-680679-7
. (see notes for page numbers)
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