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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.

Fr. Eugene H. Maly writes for the periodical «The Bible Today», a publication of Mt. St. Mary's Seminary in Norwood, Ohio.

Archimandrite Laurence Mancuso founded the Monks of New Skete in Cambridge, New York, in 1966. In his first letter to Merton in 1961, he was a Franciscan priest in the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite, living in New Canaan, Connecticut. After founding New Skete, he joined the Orthodox Church in America.

Bill Manning writes from Hopkins, Minnesota.

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

Manuel Mantero was a poet writing from Madrid, Spain.

Fr. Marcellus was a Trappist monk of Holy Spirit Abbey in Conyers, Georgia.

Adria Marconi was a student from Milan, Italy, studying foreign language and graduating with a degree in English and American literature.

Gladys Marcus was the sister of Merton's close friend Bob Lax. Merton got to know her and her husband, Benji Marcus, in the summer of 1938. Merton was having some difficulty in getting in touch with her brother Robert and asks her for assistance in 1967. She writes back informing him that he will be coming back to the United States. In addition, she informs Merton of the death of her husband.

Sr. Margaret Mary was a Benedictine nun of St. John's McNamara School of Nursing in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Sr. Maria da Concricão da Virginem Dolorosa writes from the Carmelite convent of St. Teresa in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Sr. Maria de los Angeles was a nun of the Carmelite Monastery of Cristo Rey in San Francisco, California.

Merton writes to Adrienne Mariani of Glen Ridge, New Jersey.

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 of the Eucharist was a Carmelite nun.

Sr. Marie Pius writes from the Monastery of Saint Clare in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was the first African-American admitted to the Poor Clares in the United States. She was suffering from a terminal illness at the time of writing 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.

Br. Marie-Bernard was a Trappist monk, possibly of Gethsemani Abbey.

Sr. Marie-Bernarde was a Dominican sister of the Sacred Heart Dominican College in Houston, Texas.

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

Fr. Richard Marimon writes from New York, but undersigns that he is a Spanish priest from the Diocese of Ponce.

Fr. Francis Marino was a Marianist priest from Immaculate Conception Church in Westerly, Rhode Island. He suggests that Merton write to Sr. Immaculate Heart of White Plains, New York, considering their plans for a new contemplative order with a goal of liturgical renewal, called the "Handmaids of the Blessed Trinity".

Jacques Maritain was a philosopher and Catholic humanist writer who was quite influential in 20th century "new scholasticism", taking the writings of Thomas Aquinas and applying them to modern societal issues in philosophy and science. Born in Paris, he attended the Sorbonne and married Raïssa Oumancoff (1883-1960), who was a Jewish emigrée from Russia. Raïssa Maritain later achieved notoriety as a mystical poet and philosopher. Influenced by Léon Bloy, they were both baptized Catholic in 1906. A few years later, after having studied biology and mathematics at the University of Heidelberg, Jacques Maritain returned to France and discovered Aquinas' «Summa Theologica», which helped launch the direction of his writing. He would go on to write a number of influential books
Merton was first met Maritain at a lecture Maritain delivered at Catholic Book Club, where Dan Walsh introduced them. During Maritain's time as a professor at Princeton from 1948-1960, Merton and Maritain first wrote to each other. In 1949, Merton was struggling with thoughts of leaving the Trappists and joining the Carthusians. In Merton's later life, after he had achieved his desire for more solitude at a hermitage at Gethsemani, Maritain visited him at the hermitage in 1966. Since 1961, after Raïssa's death the previous year, Jacques Maritain had been living with the Little Brothers of Jesus in Toulouse. He took vows with them in 1971 and died there in 1973. (Sources: «The Courage for Truth», pp. 22-23; and "Maritain, Jacques." World Authors." 1996. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 30 Nov. 2005. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)

Sr. Mary John Markey was a School Sister of Notre Dame from Omaha, Nebraska, at the time of writing to Merton.

Merton writes to Lillian Marks in response to her criticism of his article "Blessed are the Meek" from the edition of «Fellowship» (published by the Fellowship of Reconciliation) from May of 1967. Merton took an ironic tone in the article. Marks thought that Merton crossed the line and hampered ecumenical dialogue in employing the term "international Jewry", even if the tone was that of irony. Merton apologizes and pledges to be more careful in the future.

Sr. Patricia Marks writes to ask Merton's contribution to her congregation's newsletter, «The Light».

Dom Marie-Joseph Marquis was Abbot of Notre Dame de Grâce in Bricquebec, France, from 1940-1981.

Peter Marron writes on behalf of «Cithara», "essays in the Judeo-Christian tradition".

Michael Marsch was a German Christian who went to Israel to study Hebrew.

Reginald Marsh was a artist and friend of Owen Merton, Thomas' father and another artist. Unlike Owen, who tended toward watercolor landscapes, Marsh is often considered of the Social Realist school, reporting in detail urban life in the 1930's through his paintings and drawings. Merton writes to Marsh in April of 1932 while on Easter holiday from Oakham in Germany and writes again from Oakham. He would spend most of the summer of 1933 at Marsh's studio in Greenwich Village in New York. (Source: The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton by Michael Mott, pp. 61 and 73.)

Fr. Martin Oliver was a Dominican priest from France writing about Fr. Etienne Vayssière and the worker-priest movement.

Frederick R. Martin was Managing Editor of the publishing house New Directions. He writes from New York.

Mary Declan Martin was a student in the education department of Brescia College in Owensboro, Kentucky. She asks Merton about his educational philosophy.

Fr. Angel Martinez was a Jesuit priest and poet from Nicaragua. He has published a number of books of poetry. Merton heard of Martinez through José Coronel Urtecho. (Source: «The Courage for Truth», pp. 206.)

As described by William H. Shannon, Marty is a "[w]ell-known author in the field of religious literature and longtime associate editor of «Christian Century»" (source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 454-455).

Mother Agnes Mary was from the Monastery of Poor Clares of Newport News, Virginia.

Sr. Mary Catherine of the Heart of Christ was a nun of the Carmel of the Holy Family in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Sr. Mary Charlotte was President of Catherine Spalding College in Louisville (now known as Spalding University) and was a Sister of Charity of Nazareth.

Sr. Mary Evangeline was Executive Secretary of the Sister Formation Conference. She writes from Washington, D.C.

Sr. Mary Gabriel was a Sister of Mercy from Jamestown, New York.

Sr. Mary Immaculate was from the Congregation of the Holy Cross at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Sr. Mary Immaculate was one of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at Saint Mary Convent in Monroe, Michigan.

Mother Mary Margaret was the Anglican abbess of Holy Cross Convent in Sussex, England. She discusses ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Anglicans and broader topics of ecumenism.

Sr. Mary Margaret is a Redemptorist nun of the Monastery of St. Alphonsus in Liguori, Missouri.

Sr. Mary of the Heart of Jesus was Sub-prioress of the Carmel at Waterbeach, near Cambridge, England.

Mother Mary Philomena was Abbess of the Monastery of the Poor Clares in Chicago, Illinois.

Sr. Mary Ruth of the Holy Infant writes from the Maryknoll Cloister in Maryknoll, New York.

Sr. Mary St. Thomas was the Anglican contemplative community of the Society of the Precious Blood at Burnham Abbey in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England.

Christiana Maslin writes from Saint-Chaffrey, Hautes-Alpes, France.

Herbert Mason is a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies in the history and religion departments of Boston University in Massachusetts. He first became interested in his field through contact with Louis Massignon. Mason later introduced Merton to Massignon. Mason has written and translated many middle eastern texts from a narrative on the Gilgamesh epic to a translation of Massignon's most famous work, «The Passion of al-Hallaj». (Sources: «Witness to Freedom», p. 259; and "Herbert Mason" Boston University (website). Accessed 5 Dec. 2005. ‹http://www.bu.edu/uni/faculty/profiles/mason.html›.)

Louis Massignon was a French scholar who wrote some of the most influential works on Islamic studies of the 20th century. Massignon had an especially keen interest in the Sufi mystic of ninth century Baghdad, Hallaj (Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj). Based on his idea of "substitution mystique", accepting the sufferings of others, and the similar idea of «badal» by Hallaj, he received approval from Rome to form the sodality of the Badaliya in 1947. (The movement had its roots from a vow taken in 1934 with his friend, Mary Kahil.) He was later granted permission by Pope Pius XII in 1950 to become a married priest of the Melkite rite. Merton was introduced to him by Herbert Mason. Massignon later introduced a Pakistani friend and Sufi scholar, Abdul Aziz, to Merton's work, and Aziz and Merton thenceforth correspondence. Massignon wrote to Merton of his concerns about the racial tensions in France concerning the immigration of north African Muslims and about the after-effects of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and the consequences for peace between Israeli's and Palestinians. Massignon's combination of a love of mysticism with an outspoken nature about the world's problems might have influenced Merton. (Source: «Witness to Freedom», pp. 275-276.)

Archimandrite Elie Mastroyanopoulos writes from Athens, Greece.

Jacques Masui writes from Switzerland on behalf of the magazine «Hermes».

Richard Matthews was Editor of the first edition of the «Florida Quarterly», from University of Florida in Gainesville. Martin Lee Curry took over as General Editor for the next issue.

James F. Mathias writes as Secretary for the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York. He writes on behalf of a request by Clayton Eshleman for a Guggenheim grant award.

Olga Elena Mattei is a poet living in Medellin, Colombia. She was born in Puerto Rico and often wrote concerning social justice. Merton was a fan of her work.

Fr. Francesco Mattesini, from the journal «Vita e Pensiero» in Milan, Italy, writes to Robert MacGregor of New Directions publishing in New York. MacGregor makes a note on the letter and forwards it to Merton.

Fr. Francis J. Matthews writes on behalf of the National Association for Pastoral Renewal. He was also the Director of the Catholic Radio and Television Apostolate for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri, and was the Executive Secretary of the National Carta Foundation (NCF).

Sr. Mary Maurice and Sr. Lillian were Felician Sisters of the St. Teresa of Avila Convent in Akron, New York.

Sr. Rita Maury, who seems to have formerly used the name in religion of Sr. Frances Therese, was a Sister of St. Joseph writing from Milford, Massachusetts.

Lilian May from Brazil sends Merton some books by Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa.

Rollo May was the author of a number of books on existential psychology. Before earning he doctoral degree from Columbia University in 1949, he tried different disciplines, including studying at Union Theological Seminary with Paul Tillich. He was influenced both by existentialist writers and philosophers like Sören Kierkegaard and psychologists like Erich Fromm. May writes from New York. (Source: "May, Rollo." World Authors 1985-1990 (1995). Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 12 Dec. 2005. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)

Lisa M. Mayer was secretary to Helen Wolff of Harcourt, Brace and World in New York.

Pawel Mayewski was Editor of the quarterly on culture, «Tematy». He writes from New York.

Leonard F. X. Mayhew was Publicity Editor for Sheed and Ward in New York.

Fr. Thiband M. Maze was a Benedictine monk from the Abbaye Notre-Dame Du Bec in France.