Domenico Cardinal Tardini was an Italian priest who held high positions in the Roman Catholic Curia during the tenure of Pope Pius XII and was later elevated to cardinal and Secretary of State of the Vatican under Pope John XXIII in 1958.
Sr. Thomais writes from the Sat Tal Ashram (Sattal Ashram), a Christian ashram in Nainital, India.
Frances Tiller had been writing to Thomas Merton before making a visit to Gethsemani Abbey with her husband, the Rev. Thomas Tiller and their children around September of 1964. They were living in Jackson, Mississippi, and were friends of another of Merton's acquaintances there, Msgr. Josiah G. Chatham.
Paul Tillich was German-born Protestant theologian whose books on systematic theology were among the most influential in theological circles of the 20th Century. He was ordained a Lutheran minister and served as a chaplain in the German army during World War I. He was against this war and he came to realize that the Christian principles underpinning society were under attack. A fierce critic of the Nazi regime, he was one of the first non-Jewish professors to be expelled from a German university. He went to the United States and spent the rest of his career with professorships at Union Theological Seminary, Harvard University, and University of Chicago. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 575-576.)
Joseph Tjo Tchel-Oung was from Holy Ghost College in Seoul, Korea.
Richard Tobin was Managing Editor of the «Saturday Review» at the time of writing to Merton. He writes from New York.
John M. Todd was publisher from Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd. in London, England. His secretary, Virginia Johnstone, sends Merton a reply.
Lucille Tomei was from New York. She writes postcards to Merton while traveling in Germany and Austria.
Thomas Merton's letter to this recipient addresses her as "Miss Tower." She had sent Merton a copy of a new book by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sr. Jane Tully was a Maryknoll Missionary from Mwanza, Tanzania.
Sr. Lucille was a Religious Sister of Mercy writing from Clymer, New York, at the time of writing to Merton. She later left the religious life and resumed her birth name, Mary Turner.
Dom Wilfred Upson (born John Henry Neil Upson) was, at the time of writing to Dom James Fox, Abbot of Prinknash Abbey (Our Lady and St. Peter at Prinknash), a Benedictine monastery in Gloucestershire, England. Upson first entered monastic life as an Anglican with the community of monks led by Aelred Carlyle on Caldey Island. After a conflict with the Church of England, the community converted en masse to Catholicism. Caldey Island was later sold to Cistercian monks in 1928, and the community moved to Gloucestershire. Upson was elected first abbot in 1937 and served in that position until 1961. Merton would be in contact with another Anglican-convert who would become Catholic at Prinknash, Bede Griffiths (Merton and Griffiths having been in contact during Griffith's later years at his monastery in India). (Source: "A Monk and His Movies." 23 October 2013. Accessed 5 August 2020. ‹https://darklanecreative.com/a-monk-and-his-movies-2/›.)
Georgette de Vallejo was born Georgette Marie Philippart in Paris in 1908. She married poet and author César Vallejo in 1934. Widowed by César's death in 1938, she would later write some biographical works and compile some anthologies of her late husband and his works in the 1960's and 1970's.
José Maria Valverde was a poet born in Valencia de Alcántara, Spain. At the time of writing to Merton, he was a professor at University of Barcelona. He was the administrator of the publisher Eler.
Sr. M. Verenice was a Sister of St. Joseph from Nazareth, Michigan.
Virginia Vigrass was a volunteer teacher at the Quakers' Friends Girls School in Ramallah, Jordan (currently in the West Bank of the Palestinian Territories). She was originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and had been in Ramallah for a year.
Dom Louis de Gonzague Le Pennuen was a Trappist monk who became Abbot of Our Lady of Melleray in France from 1949-1958. Melleray is the motherhouse of Gethsemani Abbey, so the abbot of this monastery was important in decisions affecting Merton. Le Pennuen was replaced by Dom Colomban Bissey.
Thomas W. Leavitt was Director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and asks Merton about displaying some of his art in Santa Barbara.
Fr. Jouis-B. Leduc was a Dominican priest writing from Kyoto, Japan.
Dom Paulinus Lee was the founder of a Trappist monastery on Lantao Island near Hong Kong. Having been born in Peking, he became a entered the Trappist Monastery of Consolation, Yang Kia Ping, in 1919. In 1941, he elected as Titular Prior at Our Lady of Joy, but had to flee Communist oppression and found a new monastery near Hong Kong in the late 1940's. (Source: website of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocesan Archives, ‹http://archives.catholic.org.hk/memory/P-Lee.htm›; originally appearing in the 1980/08/08 edition of Hong Kong's Catholic Sunday Examiner, ‹http://sundayex.catholic.org.hk/›.)
Hellmut Emil Lehmann-Haupt was the author of «Art Under a Dictatorship», describing the policies to censor and control art under the totalitarian regimes. Lehmann-Haupt was born in Germany but lived and was schooled in a number of different countries, including England and Turkey. After his doctoral studies, he spent time as a rare book dealer and later museum curator in Germany before moving to the United States in 1929. He spent a number of years at Columbia University as rare books curator, leaving in 1950 to pursue further research and writing. In the late nineteen forties, he advised the United States military occupation forces in Germany on matters related to art and cultural treasures, which led to the publication of «Art Under a Dictatorship» in the mid-fifties. He published a number of other books concerning rare books and art in both German and English. (Source: "Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmut." Current Biography. 1961. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University W.L. Lyons Brown Library, Louisville, KY. 19 Aug. 2005. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Harding Lemay was Vice President for Trade at Alfred A. Knopf publishers.
"Dom Gregorio Lemercier was Superior of an experimental Benedictine monastery at Cuernavaca in Mexico" at the time of these letters. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 68.)
Lillie Lenihan writes from Palo Alto, California.
Sr. Thérèse Lentfoehr was a Salvatorian religious sister, who was a poet, author, lecturer and one of the foremost early Merton scholars. She was born and lived most of her life in Wisconsin. She first contacted Merton in 1939 in praise of one of his poems, and she contacted him again in 1948 to discuss Merton's review of Lentfoehr's book of Marian poems, «I Sing of a Maiden». From this time, Merton and Lentfoehr became regular correspondents until Merton's death in 1968. Merton would often send her his manuscripts, and amassed a large early Merton collection, which she donated to Columbia University. In 1967, Lentfoehr came to Gethsemani to visit Merton. (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 187.)
Denise Levertov was a English-born poet who moved to the United States in 1948 after marrying an American, Mitchell Goodman. Goodman introduced Levertov to Robert Creeley of Black Mountain College in Asheville, North Carolina. Creeley's direct style and derivation from the poetry establishment influenced Levertov's writing. Although published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and associated with the Beat writers, Levertov resisted this comparison and criticized much of what the movement stood for. She was an anti-war activist and campaigned against the Vietnam War. Levertov first writes to Merton to ask whether he would send a poem for the War Resisters' League Engagement Calendar in July of 1967. Wendell Berry brought Denise Levertov to meet Merton at his hermitage on December 10, 1967 (which is recounted on that date in his published journals). Besides Levertov's letter, there had been some correspondence from Merton to Levertov ("two brief business notes" according to the 1973 letter by Richard Edelman), which are not extant. (Source: "Levertov, Denise." World Authors. 1991. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 07 Sep. 2005. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Fr. Thomas J. Liang was a priest of St. Leo's Church in Oakland, California. He was a refugee priest from China who came to the United States in 1951. He wrote to Merton concerning the Christian Unity Corps, which hosted international students. (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 321.)
Paulo Alceu Amoroso was a Brazilian scholar, teacher, and writer of over eighty books on a variety of subjects. Among his interests, he wrote about social justice and was an early Latin American influence on Merton. He wrote prefaces and introductions to some of Merton's earlier works in Portuguese, while translating some of his later works. (Source: «The Courage for Truth», p. 164.)
Cecil Robert Lloyd writes on behalf of a authors and poets series to be hosted by Radio KHFM of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Michael Looby was a student at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York. He asks Merton to defend his stand against the Vietnam War.
Richard M. (Dick) Loomis was a former monk of Gethsemani who went by the religious name of "Cuthbert". He narrated "Laudate Dominum", an album of Gregorian Chant for which Merton provided the program notes.
Else B. Lorch was Assistant to James Laughlin at New Directions. She writes from New York.
Mother Marie de Lourdes was of the Society of St. Ursula of the Blessed Virgin from Tours, France. She came to the United States in 1965 to visit her community's foundation in Kingston, New York. She arranged to meet Merton to discuss aggiornamento or reform in the religious life.
A poet in his own right, Walter Lowenfels might be better known as an anthologist of 20th century radical poetry. A member of the Communist party, he wrote for the «Daily Worker» from the 1930's through the early 1950's. Solely based on his Communist Party membership, he was arrested and convicted of trying to overthrow the United States government in 1953, such charges being cleared in a matter of weeks. In the late 1950's, he focused more on writing poetry and publishing anthologies. Besides liking Lowenfels poems in «To an Imaginary Daughter», Merton gives Lowenfels praise for his anthology, «Where Is Vietnam?» (Source: "Walter Lowenfels, 1897-1976. American author and editor." Washington University in St. Louis, Olin Library Department of Special Collections website. 27 July 2004. Accessed 16 September 2005. ‹http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/manuscripts/mlc/lowenfels/lowenfels.html›.)
Sr. Lucilla was a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet writing from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts.
Br. Edmund Lum was a Trappist monk of Gethsemani Abbey. His name outside of religious life is Theodore Lum.
Andrew Nelson Lytle was an author of essays, novels and short stories, a professor of history and creative writing, and an editor. Lytle writes to Merton as editor of «The Sewanee Review», a quarterly published by the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Merton became a regular contributor to this publication. In addition, Lytle often sent books of interest to Merton.
Herbert D. Magidson writes from Beverly Hills, California, on behalf of Individuals against the Crime of Silence, an organization opposed to the Vietnam War.
Carolyn W. Mallison writes from Watertown, New York.
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.
Fr. Richard Marimon writes from New York, but undersigns that he is a Spanish priest from the Diocese of Ponce.
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.
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.)
Mary Declan Martin was a student in the education department of Brescia College in Owensboro, Kentucky. She asks Merton about his educational philosophy.
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 Evangeline was Executive Secretary of the Sister Formation Conference. She writes from Washington, D.C.
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.
Sr. Mary of the Heart of Jesus was Sub-prioress of the Carmel at Waterbeach, near Cambridge, England.
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.
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›.)
Jacques Masui writes from Switzerland on behalf of the magazine «Hermes».
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).
Edward McCarthy was a teacher at a Catholic grammar school in Coventry, England.
Fr. Thomas McCarthy (known as Fr. Malachy with the Trappists) was a monk at the time of writing at New Melleray Abbey in Dubuque, Iowa.
Vincent A. McCrossen was a professor at Boston College. He writes from Lexington, Massachusetts.
Thomas P. McDonnell was a staff writer for «The Pilot», a publication of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts. He often wrote book reviews about Merton's books, edited «A Thomas Merton Reader», and interviewed Merton for «Motive», a magazine affiliated with the Methodist Student Movement. McDonnell often sent Merton other reviews and articles he had written for «The Pilot» and other publications.
Christopher McFadden writes from Wilton, Connecticut.
Dom Robert McGann was abbot of the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Ghost (Holy Ghost Abbey) in Conyers, Georgia. He became abbot after Dom James Fox left in 1948 to become abbot of Gethsemani Abbey. He asks Merton some questions about the scholasticate.
Fr. Cornelius McMenamin was a Trappist monk of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia.
Br. Basil McMurray was a Trappist monk of Gethsemani and former novice of Thomas Merton's. He later received permission to live as a hermit at Mount Saviour Monastery in New York.
Chris McNair was the father of Carole Denise McNair, one of the children killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. He took a picture of his daughter that was included in «Look», which Merton saved and wrote a poem about called "Picture of a Black Child with a White Doll." He captioned the photo, "Carole Denise McNair, one of the four bomb-murdered Negro children, never learned to hate." (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 332.)
Carey McWilliams was Editor of «The Nation» magazine from New York, as well as a liberal social critic and author of a number of books.
John O. Meany was a visiting professor in the Education Department at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
Dr. Joost A.M. Meerloo was a Dutch-born psychoanalyst specializing in the area of thought control techniques used by totalitarian regimes. Most of his family were killed by the Nazis, but he escaped to England in 1942 from a Nazi prison in the Netherlands. In 1946, he emigrated to the United States and took residence in New York where he continued to writes books and continue his practice as a psychoanalyst. He coined the term "mentacide", the killing of the mind as employed in brain-washing techniques. After writing to each other for since 1962, Meerloo visits Gethsemani in November of 1967 (see Merton's journal entry from November 7, 1967). His books include «Homo Militans», «The Psychology of War and Peace in Man», «Delusion and Mass Delusion», and «The Rape of the Mind». (Source: "Meerloo, Joost A. M." Current Biography. 1962. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 13 Dec. 2005. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Fr. Charles Meeus writes from the Archdiocese of Taegu [Daegu] in South Korea. He discusses Korean translations of Merton's "The General Dance" and a haiku by Merton, "Japanese Frog".
Fr. Michael D. Meilach was a Franciscan priest and Assistant Editor of «The Cord», "a spiritual Franciscan review". He writes from St. Bonaventure, New York.
Carmen de Mello translated some of Merton's poems into Portuguese from "Poesias" by Ernesto Cardenal. The work was entitled «Vinho do silencio (Poesias)», and is an equivalent of «Selected Poems» in Portuguese. Carmen de Mello writes from Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Frederick Merida writes from the Corner Shop and Gallery in Anchorage, Kentucky. He asks if Merton would like to exhibit some of his artwork at his gallery.
Beatrice Katherine Merton was Owen Merton's sister and Tom's Aunt "Ka". She was a nurse in Christchurch, New Zealand. She visited Tom Merton once in 1922 in Douglaston, New York. (Source: The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, p. 293).
Ira Sandperl was a friend and mentor of Joan Baez and came with her to visit Merton in December of 1966. Sandperl was an authority on Gandhi and co-founded a peace institute with Joan Baez.
A Cypriot by birth, Costas Papademas first writes after meeting Merton at Gethsemani, In 1963, while he was a professor in the Journalism Department of Indiana University in Bloomington. He came with a delegation of journalist from around the world (see a letter to Merton from October, 21, 1963 signed by all the foreign journalists). When unrest broke out in Cyprus in 1964, he returned to his native country. Later, he served as Cyprian ambassador in London and in Washington, D.C.
Charles Stanley Thompson worked for the British National Heath Service. He converted to Catholicism in 1954. He became involved in a peace organization called the Pax Society, which later allied with the Pax Christi International movement. Thompson served as bulletin editor for the British society's «Pax Bulletin» from 1956-1963. He was also chairperson until 1971. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 571.)
