Showing 2375 results

Jim Milord wrote for the «Catholic Worker» and praised Merton for his review of the «Shoshoneans» in the June 1967 issue. He writes from Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada. Later, after transferring to a new teaching post in 1968, he writes from Vegreville, Alberta.

Czeslaw Milosz was a Polish poet who among his many accolades won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. Milosz was part of the Polish socialist resistance to the Nazis during World War II. After the war, he sought political asylum in France, opposing the repressive regime that came to power. His work, «The Captive Mind» was the first that caught Merton's attention and motivated him to write to Milosz. In 1960, Milosz accepted a professorship at the University of California, Berkeley, and lived in the United States for the rest of his life. Merton and Milosz first met at Gethsemani in September of 1964. Later, Merton would visit Milosz in California in October of 1968. Christine Bochen notes a number of diverse themes in their correspondence: "candid critiques of each other's work; suggestions for reading; and reflections on nature and history, religion and the Church, mass media and American society." (Source: «The Courage for Truth», pp. 53-54.)

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.

Stephano Minelli writes on behalf of Edizioni Mocelliana in Brescia, Italy.

Dorothy Mingolello writes from Fairfield, Connecticut. She asks Merton's assistance in writing a letter to the director of Boys Town, Msr. Nicholas H. Wegner.

Sr. Miriam Benedict was a Benedictine sister of Regina Laudis Monastery in Bethlehem, Connecticut. At the time of writing, she was Postulant Mistress.

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.

Dale Moody was, at the time of writing to Merton, a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Roger Moody writes on behalf of the West Campaigners against Factory Farming / West of England Campaign against Factory Farming (WECAFF). He writes from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Stephen Mooney was a poet and professor at the University of Tennessee, Martin. He was founder and editor of the «Tennessee Poetry Journal».

Fr. Augustine Moore was a Trappist monk from Holy Spirit Abbey in Conyers, Georgia. At the time of this correspondence, he was the American Definitor in Rome. He later succeeded Robert McGann as abbot of Holy Spirit Abbey. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 56.)

Dan Tyler Moore and Drew Pearson write on behalf of the International Platform Association from Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Monsignor J. P. Moore writes from the Catholic Chapel at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He was the priest who had instructed and baptized Merton at Corpus Christi Church in New York. He visited Gethsemani in November of 1964. Merton notes in his journals that, at the time, Moore had been serving as chaplain at the military academy at West Point for twenty-five years.

Lee Moore worked in the subsidiary rights department of Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishers in New York.

Dom Thomas Verner Moore was the founder of a Carthusian charterhouse, the first in the Americas, at Sky Farm (later named the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration) in southern Vermont. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1877. He joined the Paulists in 1896. In 1903, he was granted the first doctorate in psychology in the District of Columbia from Catholic University of America. He was sent to study under one of the pioneers of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, in Germany, but returned to the United States due to health problems. During the First World War, he changed orders from the Paulists to the English Benedictines at Downside Abbey. He went on to study medicine and earned an M.D. from John Hopkins in 1915. He then opened a children's clinic and taught clinical medical classes at Catholic University, later heading the department. After he retired in 1947, at the age of 70, he became a Carthusian at the Cartuja de Miraflores, in Burgos, Spain. In 1950, he returned to the United States under orders to begin the Sky Farm foundation. (Sources: ["Carthusian Solitude." Time magazine (11 Dec. 1950). Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 5 May 2008. «http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814099-2,00.html»]; and [Stafford, John W. "Thomas Verner Moore: 1877-1969." American Journal of Psychology: Vol. 83, No. 2 (June, 1970), pp. 286-288. JSTOR. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 5 May 2008. ‹http://www.jstor.org/stable/1421336›].)

Geoffrey Moorhouse was a journalist on the editorial staff of «The Guardian» in London, England.

Dr. José L. Morales from St. John’s University, in New York was a professor of mystical theology and literature.

María Angustias Moreno Olmedo writes from Granada, Spain. She has published books on the genealogy and heraldry of Granada and a catalog of the archives of the Alhambra.

Frederick Morgan was editor-in-chief of «The Hudson Review» and writes from New York.

Dr. Dante J. Morgana, a medical doctor and Benedictine Oblate (Frater Augustinus Morgana), writes from Buffalo, New York. He seems to have spent some time (1961?) as a postulant at Gethsemani Abbey.

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.)

Charles Moritz was the longest serving editor of «Current Biography», serving from 1958-1992.

Thomas Morrill was a poet writing from Tallahassee, Florida.

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.)

Fr. Youakim Moubarac was a professor of Arabic classics at the Institut Catholique de Paris in France.

Rev. C. F. D. Moule was an Anglican priest and professor at Clare College at Cambridge University in England. Merton submits a piece for the «Clare Association Annual».

Merton writes to the Library Club of Mount St. Paul College in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Elizabeth Mowat writes from the Translation Department of the publishing firm Curtis Brown in regards to foreign rights to Merton's books overseas and in translation. She writes from New York.

Fr. Michael Moylan was a Discalced Carmelite of Mount Carmel in Oxford, England.

Paul V. Moynihan was Chief Reference Librarian of Bapst Library at Boston College in Massachusetts.

Fr. Thomas A. Mullaney was a Dominican priest from Washington, D.C. and writes in response to «Seeds of Contemplation».

Joseph Mulloy and his wife, Karen, corresponded with Merton for a number of years. In 1968, it was arranged through a mutual friend for Joseph to meet Merton at Gethsemani. Merton supported Mulloy in seeking Conscientious Objector status for the Vietnam War and wrote a letter to Local Board 47 in Louisville, Kentucky. Despite this, Mulloy was sent to prison. (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 366.)

Letters from Mumford are addressed from Amenia, New York, but Merton mentions a letter of his written from London. Mumford was a well known architectural critic, urban planner, and commentator of the effects of modern technology on human development. Merton mentions reading some of Mumford's articles and his books «The Myth of the Machine» and «Technics and Civilization».

Kay Murphy was the manager of the Literary Rights Division of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).

Michael Murphy writes from the Esalen Institute, located in San Francisco and Big Sur, California.

Anne Brooks Murray writes on behalf of Farrar, Straus and Cudahy publishers in New York.

A. J. Muste was born in Holland, moved with his family to the United States at six, and later attended Union Theological Seminary and became a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church. He was a pacifist and life-long advocate for peace and civil rights, working with such groups at the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the War Resisters League. Even in his later years, he continued his opposition to war in resisting United States involvement in Vietnam.

André Muzac writes on behalf of La Haute-Auvergne Societe des Lettres, Sciences et Art from Aurillac, France.

Fr. Christopher Mwoleka became Bishop of Rulenge in Tanzania in 1969. When he first wrote to Merton in 1967, he explains that he had first read Merton in 1952, and that «Seeds of Contemplation» was an inspiration for him to leave his job as an office clerk and enter seminary. He was ordained in 1962 and would later read a number of Merton's books. Shortly after beginning their correspondence, Mwoleka began teaching at St. Charles Lwanga's Katoke Seminary in Biharamulo.

Virginia Naeve is the author of a proposal referencing Thomas Merton. There is no correspondence in this file; however, it quotes a message from Abbot James Fox who writes on behalf of Thomas Merton.

Brendan Nagle was from Malibu, California.

Susan Neer was a high school student from Saint Ann, Missouri. Her father tells her that statements about racism in the South by John Howard Griffin are exaggerated, and she asks Merton's opinion.

Allen R. Neff was an English professor at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. Claire Livingston asked him to send Merton some poems for consideration in «Monks Pond». Merton included his work in volume three of «Monks Pond».

Dorothy Neff writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia, in response to «The Seven Storey Mountain» and «The Sign of Jonas».

J. Robert Nelson was dean of Vanderbilt University Divinity School from 1957-1960. He was later dean at Boston University School of Theology from 1965-1985.

Mother Carole Neri was a Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Albany, New York. At the time of writing to Merton, she was not yet the superior (still Sr. Carole) and was Mistress of Novices.

Norman Neuman was a Lutheran minister writing from Lutheran Social Services in Brooklyn, New York. He had skills in drawing and painting and asked how to use these artistic gifts to serve God and how to overcome the "problem of communicating to «modern man»."

James Roy Newman wrote a number of popular books about mathematics.

Mary E. Newman writes from West Palm Beach, Florida, to report a miracle purported to have occurred after reading «Exile Ends in Glory» and praying to Mother Berchmans and Maria Goretti.

S. H. Newman writes from El Paso, Texas. He had once entered the Trappists but was rejected before vows because they feared he was going blind. He spent time with the Carthusians, but was dismissed for disobedience. He did not go blind, married, and became the father of two girls. He includes a letter to his brother, Fletcher (Fletch) Newman, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey in Oregon.

Thich Nhât Hanh was a Buddhist monk, originally from Vietnam. During the Vietnam war, he struggled to negotiate peace and end the conflict between the North and South in a non-partisan fashion. In so doing, he was condemned by both sides and had to flee the country. After leaving Vietnam, he lectured in the United States. In 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated Nhât Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize. In later years, he lived in France at a monastic community called Plum Village. (Sources: The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, pp. 325-326; and the Plum Village website, ‹plumvillage.org›.)

Donald Nicholl was from the History Department at University of Keele in Staffordshire, England.

Lorine Niedecker was a poet who lived most of her life on Rock River in Wisconsin. She worked many odd jobs through the years and married twice, starting to write verse in the 1930's after attending Beloit College. She moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her second husband and died of a stroke in 1970. Louis Zukofsky was an influence on her poetry, the two of them having corresponded in the 1930's. She had a number of poems published in books and magazines, including some by Jonathan Williams and Cid Corman. Merton publishes some of her poems in the first volume of «Monks Pond». (Source: Monks Pond, p. 62.)

Bishop Matthew A. Niedhammer (Matteo Aloisio Niedhammer y Yaeckle) was the Apostolic Vicariate in Bluefields, Nicaragua. Merton is inquiring about moving to Nicaragua to set up a hermitage on Corn Island.

John Jacob Niles was the composer of the Niles-Merton Song Cycles with the poetry of Thomas Merton.

Rena Niles was the wife of John Jacob Niles, the composer of the Niles-Merton Song Cycle, with poetry by Merton and music by John Jacob Niles. She writes from their farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

Keiji Nishitani was Editor of «The Eastern Buddhist», a magazine founded by D. T. Suzuki to promote East-West understanding. Nishitani asks for Merton's contribution for a memorial issue on Dr. Suzuki. Keiji Nishitani writes from Kyoto, Japan.

Ilse F. Niswonger was an Oblate of St. Benedict at Regina Laudis Abbey in Bethlehem, Connecticut. She was an artist and offered her services for a statue of the Virgin Mary. This is likely the job that Merton eventually commissioned Jaime Andrade to sculpt.

Sr. M. Nivard was a Religious Sister of Mercy from Villa Maria Convent in Christchurch, New Zealand. She sent a clipping about the Wahine disaster, a ferry that sank between two of New Zealand's islands, and which killed Merton's Aunt "Kit", Agnes Gertrude Stonehewer Merton.

Richard Nixon, then President-Elect of the United States, wrote letters to prominent individuals to ask them to suggest "exceptional individuals" for presidential appointments. Merton would have not received the letter as he was in Asia and days from his death in Bangkok.

Sr. Marie Nöel was a Dominican nun from Oullins, France

Edward Noonan was an architect from Chicago, Illinois.