Fr. Philip M. Solem was assistant pastor at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Parish in Duluth, Minnesota. He was 28 at this time.
Dom Gabriel Sortais was Abbot General of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) from 1951-1963.
Eloise Spaeth was a patroness of the arts from New York. She was major force in convincing the Smithsonian Institution to open its Archives of American Art and was a promoter of Guild Hall in East Hampton. (Source: "SPAETH, ELOISE O'MARA". New York Times [online]. 6 Sep. 1998. Accessed 22 May 2006. Bellarmine University Library. ‹http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400E1DC133CF935A3575AC0A96E958260›.)
Robert Speaight was a British actor and biographer of Eric Gill and Hilaire Belloc.
Francis Cardinal Spellman was Archbishop of New York.
Stephen Spender was a British poet, critic and essayist. He was part of the "Oxford poets" movement. His circle included W. H. Auden, Isaiah Berlin, Louis MacNiece, Bernard Spencer, Christopher Isherwood, and C. Day Lewis. At the time of writing, he was editor of «Encounter» magazine. (Source: "Spender, Stephen" Obituary from Current Biography. 1995. Online. Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 22 May 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
John Stanley was a former novice at Gethsemani Abbey. He worked for a number of years with Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement. He was a friend of another ex-novice from Gethsemani and fellow Catholic Worker, Robert Steed.
Fr. Philip Stark was a Jesuit priest from St. Louis, Missouri.
Fr. Joseph Starmann writes from St. Peter Cathedral in Jefferson City, Missouri. He was a diocesan priest who, with some clergy and lay people of other Christian denominations, founded an ecumenical community based loosely on the Rule of St. Benedict at a former Franciscan friary in Wien, Missouri. The community's goal was to seek Christian unity through a life of communal prayer.
Walter Stein writes from Ilkley, England.
James Storrow was publisher of «The Nation» magazine and writes from New York.
Fr. Henri van Straelen, S.V.D. was a priest of the Society of the Divine Word and a professor of philosophy who spent much of his life as a missionary and scholar in Japan. He was a peritus to the Second Vatican Council.
Dieter Struß writes from Gütersloh, Germany, on behalf of the publisher Sigbert Mohn Verlag.
Aleksei Surkov was a poet from the U.S.S.R. and the General Secretary of the Soviet Writers' Union.
John M. Swomley was editor of «Current Issues», published by the peace and social justice group, The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) of Nyack, New York.
Mother Sylvia Marie was Superior of the Little Sisters of the Poor of Louisville, Kentucky.
Note that Rev. Theodore Nelson (Ted) Tatman later in life legally changed his name to Theodore N. McGill.
Tomas Tebé was an editor from Editorial Selecta in Barcelona, Spain.
Fr. Teresius was a Carmelite priest from Mexico City, Mexico.
Thomas Thompson writes from Dußlingen (Dusslingen), West Germany. He spent half a year at Gethsemani Abbey while Merton was Novice Master, under the name Frater William. He re-entered lay life to study and teach theology and was getting a doctorate in Germany at the time of writing.
David Tillson writes from Brockport, New York.
Amedeo Tintori writes from Livorno, Italy, concerning Merton's article "Monastic Peace".
Paolo Toufenti writes from Rome, Italy.
Vincent Tovell writes on behalf of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Ricardo Trigueros de León was Director General of Publications for the Ministry of Education in San Salvador, El Salvador.
Laurens van der Post was a writer born in South Africa. He writes about the conflicts of having been born into a Boer family, educated by the British who had recently defeated them, and hating the system of apartheid. His attacks on South African apartheid in a magazine he co-founded in his youth, «Voorslag», led to his exile. He spent some time in Japan and later joined the British army in 1939. He served in the Second World War. After the war, he was send on a mission by the British government's Colonial Development Corporation, which took him into the African interior. He began to write some travelogues and novels with influences of Jungian psychology. He saw racial tensions in light of the conflict between our interior battles between our primitive and civilized self, and racism as exteriorizing our interior hatred of the primitive self to what we perceive as primitive in other groups. Other themes of mysticism and interiority occur in his novels, prompting Merton's interest in them. (Source: "Van der Post, Laurens". World Authors 1950-1970. 1975. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 18 July 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Charles Lincoln Van Doren was the son of famed poet Mark Van Doren, Mark having been one of Merton's professors at Columbia University. Charles became an scholar and professor at Columbia University, as well, but his legacy was later overshadowed by scandal. He was a long-term contestant on the game show Twenty-One. His winning streak was later revealed as a fraud.
Mark Van Doren won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1940 for his 1939 volume of collected poems and was a literary critic and professor. He had a profound effect on Merton as a professor of English at Columbia University in New York. Van Doren was at Columbia from 1920 to 1959. Merton stayed in contact with Van Doren after leaving Columbia and after entering the monastery. Van Doren selected the pieces for Merton's «Thirty Poems» and helped get them published. Merton also knew Van Doren's wife, Dorothy, and sons Charles and John. Mark Van Doren visited Merton at Gethsemani a few times and met once with him in Louisville. (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 3.)
The Rev. Dale L. Van Meter writes from Medfield, Massachusetts. He was working on a Masters degree in Social Work from Boston College at the time of writing to Merton.
Dom Hubert Van Zeller was a Benedictine monk of Downside Abbey in England and scholar on the monastic life. He authored a number of books and articles on the contemplative life, the scriptures and monasticism.
Fr. Lambert Vandermeulen was a monk of St. Benedictus-Abdij, a Cistercian monastery in Achel, Belgium.
Fr. Joseph Vann was a Franciscan friar and one of the founding fathers of St. Bernardine of Siena College in Loudonville, New York, an extension of St. Bonaventure College.
Maria de Varela was a professor at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina.
James G. Vargiu writes while on vacation in Italy, but permanently resided in Palo Alto, California.
Fr. Roman J. Verostko was Staff Editor for Art for «The New Catholic Encyclopedia» and writes from Washington, D.C.
Germaine Vignolle writes from Marseille, France.
Fr. Vincent Mary was a Passionist priest. He writes from St. Bernard's Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where he was going to conduct a retreat for the nuns.
Fr. Urban Voll was a Dominican priest and an editor for the «Catholic Theological Encyclopedia». He writes from Washington, D.C.
Dom Aelred Wall was the founder of Christ in the Desert Monastery in Abiquiu, New Mexico, and was its first superior.
Sr. Anita (Ann) Wasserman was a nun from the Carmelite Convent of Cleveland, Ohio. She had written to Merton before entering the Carmelites in 1952. She died in April of 2015 at 82. Her brother, Edmund, had entered Gethsemani Abbey and was a good friend of Merton's. His name in religion was Fr. John of the Cross, whom Merton referred to by the nicknames "Cap" or "Cappy". The Wasserman family met with Merton when coming to Gethsemani, "adopting" him into the family. (Source: «Witness to Freedom», p. 177.)
Peter Watts was a British sculptor from Bath, England, who sculpted many of the statues at Gethsemani Abbey.
Born in Austria in the end of the 19th Century, Vally Weigl was a composer, music therapist and music instructor. She and her husband, the composer Karl Weigl, moved to New York in 1938 because of the Nazi rise to power and their Jewish ancestry. She taught at the Institute for Avocational Music and the American Theater Wing and continued composing. She received a Master's degree in 1955 from Columbia University and pursued her interests in music therapy, writing and lecturing on the subject and teaching at New York Medical College and the New School. She writes to Merton in 1964 in her new role as chairperson of the Arts for World Unity Committee of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Their theme was World Unity through the Arts. (Source: "Weigl, Vally." Biography from the New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. 1995. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University W.L. Lyons Brown Library, Louisville, KY. 5 Sep. 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Gertrude S. Weiner writes from the Foreign Rights Department of Curtis Brown in New York.
Joel Weishaus is a poet and sculptor, who is currently resident writer at the Museu do Essencial e do Além Disso, Bibliothecadas das Marauilhas in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. He has published some of his poetry and haikus, and he wrote the introduction to «Woods, Shore Desert», Merton's journal of his trip to New Mexico, California and Alaska.
Walter A. Weisskopf was Professor Emeritus of Economics at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. He was the author of «The Psychology of Economics» (1955) and «Alienation and Economics» (1971).
Ulfert Wilke was a painter and calligrapher who was born in Germany and came to the United States in 1938. From 1948 to 1964, he was at the Allen R. Hite Institute at the University of Louisville.
R. Geoffrey Wilkes was a Catholic from Bilston, Staffordshire, England, who had war-time experience in the Air Force.
Sr. Gertrude Wilkinson was Redemptorist superior and editor of the «New Contemplative Review», to which Merton submitted an article.
Galen Williams was executive secretary of The Poetry Center in New York.
Jonathan Williams is a poet, publisher, designer, photographer and essayist, born in Asheville, North Carolina. After studies at Princeton and painting at the Phillips Memorial Gallery, he returned to Asheville to study photography at Black Mountain College. After his return to North Carolina, he became associated with the Black Mountain group of poets and began a publishing venture, the Jargon Society Books. Williams visited Gethsemani Abbey in January of 1967 with Guy Davenport and Ralph Eugene Meatyard. (Source: «The Courage for Truth», p. 284.)
Henry F. Wilson was an aspiring writer from Great Falls, Montana.
Robert Alfred Jump Wilson was owner of the Phoenix Book Shop in New York from 1962 through the late 1980's, where he was an antiquarian bookseller and an author. He currently resides in St. Michaels, Maryland.
Dom Jacques Winandy was born in Liege, Belgium, in the early 20th century and became a Benedictine monk Clervaux Abbey in Luxemburg. This was a compromise for him. His father wanted him to enter a Benedictine abbey closer to home rather than follow his dreams of becoming a Carthusian. Carthusians are a monastic order living in community but spending most of the day, besides Mass and two of offices of prayer, in solitude in one's cell. During World War II, the monks of Clervaux lived in exile in religious houses in Belgium. Winandy was excepted as a Carthusian during this time; however, he was elected as abbot of Clervaux immediately after the war, a role he reluctantly accepted. He served as abbot until 1957. He spent time as a hermit before, after a year in Rome, being sent to the Benedictine abbey in Martinique. There he met Br. (now Fr.) Lionel Pare. Pare shared Winandy's interest in the eremitical life. They obtained permission to start of group of hermits, living individually but under the direction of an elder in 1964. They found an amenable bishop, Bishop Remi De Roo and the space for solitude on the Tsolum River in British Columbia, Canada, near Merville. Winandy remained in a hermitage in British Columbia until 1972, when he returned to a hermitage in Belgium, not far from Clervaux Abbey. He spent the next twenty-five years of his life there before his last six months at Clervaux while infirm. Winandy's eremitical life had a profound impact on a revival of the vocation of the hermit in the Catholic Church. (Source: Brandt, M. Charles. "A monk of the Diaspora." The New Catholic Times: 5 Jan 2003.)
William Witherup is a poet, playwright and performance artist. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in Richland, Washington. He writes to Merton from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and living in a cabin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. He has published a number of volumes of poetry. His poetry has focused on labor, environmentalism, and his father's working-class life in the nuclear industry. (Source: "William Witherup." Contemporary Authors Online. 2002. Literature Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Bellarmine University Lib., Louisville, Kentucky. 15 Sep. 2006 ‹http://galenet.galegroup.com›.)
Frances Witlin writes on behalf of the Good-Will Ambassadors for the Hiroshima-Nagasaki World Peace Study Mission.
Princess Monica Wittgenstein writes from Cologne, Germany.
Fr. Augustine Wulff was a Trappist monk of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky.
Nobuzō Yamada writes from Hiroshima, Japan. He mentions visiting Merton at Gethsemani Abbey in 1964. He was likely among the delegation for the World Peace Mission Pilgrimage of Hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Fr. Joseph Minoru Yamaguchi was a Marianist priest writing from Tokyo, Japan.
Bonnie Young was Assistant Curator of the Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
John Yungblut is a Quaker scholar and scholar of Jungian psychology. One of his academic aims is arguing for the place of Christian mysticism. He was married to June Yungblut. He writes from the Quaker House (Society of Friends) in Atlanta, Georgia, which he co-directed with his wife, June.
Msgr. Vincent Arthur Yzermans took over as editor of «Our Sunday Visitor» and its affiliate magazine, «The Priest», in the fall of 1967. He was a priest from Minnesota.
Sr. Jean Zmolek was a School Sister of Notre Dame from Notre Dame Academy in Omaha, Nebraska, at the time of writing to Merton.
Ambassador Soedjatmoko writes from the Embassy of Indonesia in Washington, D.C. Raden Soedjatmoko Saleh Mangoediningrat went also by the nickname "Mas Koko" or simply "Koko". By the end of their five hour meeting in Washington, D.C., the two men referred to each other as Tom and Koko.
Br. Irenaeus was a tailor at Gethsemani Abbey.
Frank Jones owned property along the northern California coast at Bear Harbor. While visiting Redwoods Abbey in the spring of 1968, Merton met him and his wife and inquired about land for a new hermitage. By September, Jones agreed he was interested in selling; however, by that time, Merton was considering hermitage locations in Asia.
Br. Fidelis Kerekes was a monk of Gethsemani Abbey.
Beatrice Lillie was a Canadian-born, British actress. She achieved fame in Britain after World War I and international stardom after success in the United States in 1924. She was primarily known as a brilliant comedienne, often playing in musical productions. She became Lady Peel after marriage in 1920 to the Honourable Robert Peel of Staffordshire, England. During the time Merton sent her his book, Lillie performed cabarets and benefits while hosting two series on American television. (Source: "Lillie, Beatrice." Biography from Current Biography. 1964. Online. H.W. Wilson Company. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 11 July 2007, ‹http://galenet.galegroup.com›.)
Sister M. Lois was an Ursuline Sister teaching at Angela Merici Hight School in Louisville, Kentucky.
Dr. R. Meulet was part of a faculty of medicine in radiology in Bordeaux, France.
Donna Mae Miller was the Editor of «Quest», a scholarly publication that was sponsored by two associations of physical therapy on college campuses. Miller writes from the University of Arizona.
Frank Miller was an editorial cartoonist for the «Des Moines Register and Tribune» in Iowa. Inspired by «The Seven Storey Mountain», he was taking instructions as a Catholic. From his recommendation, the editorial page at his newspaper ran quotes from «Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander» with his illustrations, originals of which he sends as thanks to Merton.
Lawrence K. Miller was Editor of «The Berkshire Eagle» of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Miller's wife was involved in the restoration of the Shaker village of Hancock, Massachusetts. Lawrence Miller is interested in reprinting one of Merton's articles on the Shakers in his newspaper.
Samra Hicks (later Mims) was, at the time of Merton's message to her, assistant to Sr. Anna Louise, Dean of Students of Catherine Spalding College in Louisville, Kentucky.
Dom Peter Minard was a French Benedictine monk and founder of the Holy Mother of God Monastery in Oxford, North Carolina, a contemplative Benedictine foundation that later was turned over to the Trappists.
Elsie Mitchell is a Buddhist scholar, originally from Boston, who has published books on Zen Buddhism and art. She was founder of the Ahimsa Foundation, which supports humane societies and organizations for the protection of wildlife; and she was co-founder of the Cambridge Buddhist Association. Dom Aelred Graham spent the summer of 1968 with Elsie and her husband John Mitchell. Elsie Mitchell writes from Cataumet, Massachusetts.
Gwynedd Monroe was Associate Secretary of the Department of Christian Social Relations of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church in New York.
Hiromu Morishita was president of the Senior High School Teachers' Society and the Hiroshima Peace Education Institute in Japan. He was a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and led a group of survivors, known as the Hibakusha, on a world tour for peace. On May 16, 1964, the group visited Merton and stayed at Gethsemani. Merton read Morishita his poem, "Paper Cranes" (the paper crane is a Japanese symbol of peace). (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 458-459.)
James Morrissey was an editor and staff writer for the «Louisville Courier-Journal» in Kentucky.
John Morrissey writes on behalf of «The Catholic News», the Catholic newspaper of New York.
Dom John Morson was a Trappist monk of Mount St. Bernard's Abbey in Leicester, England. He served as Trappist Definitor for England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He was a regular contributor to «Cistercian Studies». He writes from Rome. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 330.)
