Showing 4759 results

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a writer and Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. His writings include such classics as The Seven Storey Mountain, New Seeds of Contemplation, and Zen and the Birds of Appetite. Merton is the author of more than seventy books that include poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism, and writings on peace, justice, and ecumenism.

David Friend Aberle was a professor of anthropology at University of British Columbia whose specialty was the study of the Navajos.

John Howard Griffin was a journalist and author of a book that Merton read and found inspirational, Black Like Me, in which Griffin took medication to darken his skin and traveled throughout the racially segregated south of the late 1950's. Griffin first came to Gethsemani and met Merton in the early 1960's. Thereafter, he often visited and struck up a correspondence with Merton. He was also friends with Jacques Maritain who met with him and Merton in October of 1966 at Gethsemani. Griffin helped foster a love of photography in Merton and provided cameras, film and developing for him. Griffin was appointed Merton's official biographer, but was unable to finish his planned biography due to health troubles. Despite this, he produced a book on Merton's photography titled A Hidden Wholeness: The Visual World of Thomas Merton. Two books using materials collected while working on Merton's biography were published after Griffin's death, The Hermitage Journal: A Diary Kept While Working on the Biography of Thomas Merton and Follow the Ecstasy: Thomas Merton, the Hermitage Years 1965-1968. All letters are written from Griffin's home in Texas, unless otherwise stated. He was in Mansfield, Texas, until midway through 1966, then in Fort Worth.

John Howard Yoder was a Mennonite theologian whose writings on Christianity, ethics, politics, and opposition to war, were influential throughout the Christian world.

Ralph Eugene Meatyard was a optician by trade in Lexington, Kentucky, but was an avid photographer who would become influential in the art photography world for his haunting and surreal images. He first met Merton in January of 1967 on a trip from Lexington with poet Jonathan Williams and Guy Davenport (see Merton's journal entry from January 18, 1967). Meatyard took some photographs of Merton playing bongos, standing with a staff in a corn field, in his hermitage, in his habit but with a baseball cap, etc. In some of the last years of his life before dieing of cancer, he collaborating with another friend of Merton's, Kentucky author Wendell Berry. Meatyard's photographs are part of the collections at the Smithsonian, the Museum of Modern Art, and the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York.

In 1967, one year before his death, Merton established the Merton Legacy Trust, naming Bellarmine College as the repository of his manuscripts, letters, journals, tapes, drawings, photographs, and memorabilia. Two years later, in October 1969, the College established the Thomas Merton Center, with the Collection as its focal point. (Merton first deposited a collection of papers at Bellarmine College for a Merton Room in the library in 1963.) The Center serves as a regional, national, and international resource for scholarship and inquiry on Merton and his works and also on the ideas he promoted: contemplative life, spirituality, ecumenism, East-West relations, personal and corporate inner work, peace, and social justice. The Merton Center regularly sponsors courses, lectures, retreats, seminars, Road Scholar [elderhostel], and exhibits for scholars, students, and the general public.

Fr. Francis Mahieu Acharya, a native of Belgium who later became a Cistercian monk there, came to India in 1955 and founded a monastery in 1958. He was a pioneer in a rebirth of Syriac monasticism and of blending it with Indian spiritual traditions, such as the Upanishads, and was later Acharya, or "teacher" (and abbot), of the Kurisumala Ashram. They became officially a part of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) in 1988 and follow the liturgy of the Syro-Malankara Church (a Catholic Church in communion with Roman Catholicism).

Georges Agadjanian was a professor at Gannon College in Erie, Pennsylvania at the time of correspondence. He describes himself as a French writer preparing to write for the American audience.

Julian Allan's title suggests he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.

Edward Kikama writes from Japan.

Francis Kim writes from Taegu [Daegu], South Korea.

Brs. Harold Kohl, Brian Palmer and Erasmo Leiva were Trappists novices from the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia.

Andrew Kormos writes from Santa Ana, California.

Sr. Mary Norbert Körte was a Dominican from San Francisco, California.

Robert J. Kreyche wrote about philosophy and mysticism. He attempts to contact Merton after having spent some time with John Howard Griffin. He writes from Shawnee Mission, Kansas.

Br. Benedict Kunz was a Trappist monk from Gethsemani Abbey.

Fr. Gregory Lambing (at that time Br. Gregory) was a monk of Gethsemani Abbey.

Chanterelle Lanza del Vasto was the wife of Joseph Jean Lanza del Vasto, the founder of the Communautés de l'Arche in France.

Fr. Ernest Larkin was a Carmelite priest from Whitefirars Hall in Washington, D.C.

Fr. Benedict Lauvant was a Dominican priest writing from Toulouse, France.

Sr. Penelope Lawson was from the Anglican Community of St. Mary the Virgin in Wantage, England. She spent most of her time there as librarian at St. Mary's Convent and authored a number of books. She is also well-known for translations of early and medieval Christian writers. It was through translation of writings of Isaac of Stella that she was first in contact with Merton. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 477-478.)

Dom Jean Leclercq was a Benedictine priest, prolific writer and scholar of the history of monasticism. Born in France, he joined the Abbey of Clervaux in Luxembourg. He first came into contact with Merton concerning the history of the Trappists. Later, during the changes occurring within the Catholic Church before and after the Second Vatican Council, they carry on a crucial dialog on the role and future of monasticism.

Francis C. Lewis writes from Saint Charles Seminary in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.

Clara Libra writes from Montevideo, Uruguay.

Martin Lings (also using the nom de plume, Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din) was a scholar from England who wrote many books on Sufism, Islam, and the mystical traditions. Inspired by the French Muslim René Guénon, he converted to Islam in the 1940's and spent over a decade in Cairo. After leaving Egypt due to political unrest in 1952, he spent much of his career at the British Library and the British Museum. Lings first writes at the suggestion of Marco Pallis, asking if Merton would review his book, «Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions». (Sources: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 453. / Eaton, Gai. "Obituary - Martin Lings: Islamic scholar concerned with spiritual crisis." The Guardian Unlimited online. 27 May 2005. Bellarmine College Library. Accessed 8 Sept. 2005. ‹http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1493343,00.html›.)

Fr. Riccardo Lombardi was a Jesuit priest writing on behalf of the Centro Internationale Pio XII per un Mondo Migliore in Rome, Italy.

Beatriz Lorca sends Merton a book by Chilean author, María Donoso entitled «Hominum Terra», hoping Merton can help to find an American publisher.

Dominic Lorenzo writes on behalf of University of Notre Dame Press in Indiana.

Jim Lowell writes from the Asphodel Book Shop in Cleveland, Ohio. He writes to obtain copies of Merton's small press literary magazine, «Monks Pond». Merton does not plan to sell the magazine and will certainly give him copies that Lowell can sell, but suggests that if Lowell wants to trade, there are a couple of books he would like Lowell to send him (Franz Fanon's «Black Skin, White Masks» and Herbert Mancuse's «One Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society «).

Fr. Lucas was a priest of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate living in India. He writes to Merton asking that he write a biography of Kuriakose Elias Chavara, the co-founder of Lucas' order whom they were advocating a cause for sainthood. Chavara was beatified in 1986.

From a humble beginning in New York, Clare Boothe Luce rose to prominent and varied careers, including an advocate for the women's movement, managing editor of «Vanity Fair», a satirist and playwright, «Life» magazine correspondent in Europe during World War II, Republican legislator in the U.S. House of Representatives for Connecticut, and ambassador to Italy. She was known for her scathing wit. Her husband after a remarriage was Henry R. Luce, who was president of Time magazine, and his death in 1964 allowed her to retire to Hawaii, but she remained active in Republican politics. She converted to Catholicism in 1944 after the death of her only daughter. Henry Luce donated the land that made Mepkin Abbey possible in Conyers, Georgia. Clare Boothe Luce writes to Merton in 1948 to thank him for his books. (Source: "Luce, Clare Boothe." World Authors 1900-1950 (1996). Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 16 September 2005. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)

The author of this letter, signing Luke, seems to either be a novice or a brother of Gethsemani Abbey at the time of writing to Merton.

Fr. Luke was a monk of Genesee Abbey in Piffard, New York.

Sr. Mary Madeleva, born Mary Evaline Wolff, was a Sister of the Holy Cross who served as long time president of Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana. She is also known as a poet and literary critic. She shared with Merton a love of medieval Christian mysticism. In his letter, Merton specifically praises Julian of Norwich. By the first extant letter in 1953, Merton and Sr. Madeleva had seemed to have already written letters to each other. (Source: "Madeleva, Mary." World Authors." 1996. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 2 Nov. 2005. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)

James Edmund Magner Jr. was a poet and professor at John Carroll University in Ohio. He grew up in New York. In his early years, he helped underprivileged children, taught boxing and worked at a newspaper before serving in the United States Infantry from 1948-1951. After suffering a wounded knee in the Korean War, he returned to the United States and spent time at monasteries in New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. He was a Passionist seminarian for five years before leaving to earning a degree at the University of Pittsburgh. He continued his graduate work at Pittsburgh, earning his doctorate in 1966. He has published eight volumes of poetry. (Source: "James Magner Jr. Collection." Website of the Ohio University Library Archives and Special Collections. Accessed 3 Nov. 2005. ‹http://www.library.ohiou.edu/libinfo/depts/archives/mss/mss062.htm›.)

Bishop Charles G. Maloney was Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, at the time of writing to Merton.

Fr. George A. Maloney is a Jesuit priest of the Russian Byzantine Rite and the founder of the John XXIII Center for Eastern Christian Studies at Fordham University in New York, where he taught patristics and Eastern theology. He writes on behalf of «Diakonia», a quarterly journal that promoted dialogue between Catholic and Orthodox Christians, asking that Merton submit something for publication.

Josefina Manresa writes on behalf of Aguilar publishers in Madrid, Spain.

Abbess Marie of the Assumption Marie of the Assumption was of the Portiuncula Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Poor Clares-Colettines, in Mwanza, Tanzania. She writes to the Mother Abbess of the Monastery of Saint Clare in Lowell, Massachusetts (who likely forwarded her letter to Merton).

Sr. Marie-Aurelie is writing from the Monastery of the Precious Blood in Hamilton, Ontario. According to Sr. Marie-Aurelie's first letter, the Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood were the first contemplative order in Canada, founded in 1861 in St. Hyacinth, Quebec.

Sr. Marie-Pascal was a Daughter of Mary serving at the Ecole Notre Dame du Perpetuel Secours in Port au Prince, Haiti.