Ivanhoe Donaldson was working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) while corresponding with Merton. He worked alongside another Merton correspondent from this time, Marion Barry, who would later become mayor of Washington, D.C. He served as an advisor to Barry from the sixties to the eighties and was involved in Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign.
Professor Filippo Donini was Director of the Institute of Italian Culture at the Italian Embassy in New York.
Jude Patrick Dougherty was writing from Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky.
Dom Pierre Doyère was a Benedictine monk of the Abbey of Saint-Paul de Wisques in France.
Camille Drevet writes from Paris. She was part of Les Amis de Gandhi (Friends of Gandhi), a group founded by Louis Massignon. She was author of the book Par les routes humaines. (Source: «Witness to Freedom», p. 97.)
Sr. Diane Du Christ was from the Dominican monastery at Dax in southwestern France.
Professor Eleanor Duckett writes from Northampton, Massachusetts.
Joseph Duffy was publishing director for P. J. Kenedy and Sons publishers in New York.
Fr. George Dunne was a Jesuit priest at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Suzanne Edgell was a teacher with the United States Department of Defense and stationed in the Philippines.
Sr. Karen Edmund was a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet from Binghamton, New York.
Sr. Mary Elizabeth of the Trinity was sub-prioress and novice mistress of the Monastery of Discalced Carmelites in Boston, Massachusetts.
Elisabeth G. Ellis was writing on behalf of Naomi Burton Stone with some editorial questions about «Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander».
Dorothy Emmet was the author of a number of books on philosophy and helped found the department of philosophy at the University of Manchester, where she served as head of the department. After retiring from her professorship, she settled in Cambridge in 1966. There she became the first editor of the journal «Theoria to Theory», to which Merton was a contributor. She was interested in philosophy's application to political and social issues and "taught Plato to unemployed Welsh miners" (source: «Obituary: Dorothy Emmet». 25 September 2000. «The Guardian». Accessed 2 December 2004. ‹http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,373005,00.html›).
Ricardo Espinoza writes from Lima, Peru.
Yara Esteves writes from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
James M. Ethridge was editor of «Contemporary Authors», which compiles reference volumes on biographical information about authors.
Hermene Evans writes from Chicago on behalf of the Peace Study Union.
Fr. Illtud Evans was a Dominican priest and popular retreat master from Cambridge, England. He did editorial work for «Blackfriars» (after 1964, «New Blackfriars»), a publication of the English Dominicans. Many of Evans' letters speak of his travels for the retreats he was giving, including a trip to the Holy Land. In 1966, he moved to St. Albert's College in Oakland, California. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 196.)
Eugene Exman was an editor for Harper and Brothers (by 1962, Harper and Row). He writes from New York.
Mario Falsina was a student at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy, and was living in Bergamo. He was writing a thesis on Merton and asks him six questions to which Merton replies.
Fr. Hugh Farmer was a Benedictine monk of Quarr Abbey on the northern coast of the Isle of Wight.
Sr. Felicitas was an American Benedictine nun who had asked Merton about racial integration for monasteries (source: «The School of Charity», p. 218).
In 1959, Richard Leeman was working on a PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he lived with his wife and two children.
George Lensing, Jr. is an English professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he has served on the faculty since 1969. After earning his doctorate from Louisiana State in 1966, he spent a couple of years in the Peace Corps in Brazil, teaching at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro. While in Brazil, he sends Merton some poems of Carlos Drummond de Andrade and some of his own poems. Merton includes Lensing's translation of "Morte do Leiteiro", or "Death of the Milkman", in «Monks Pond» IV.
L. Larry Leonard was Editor of «Current Thought on Peace and War» and faculty member of the Department of Political Science at Wisconsin State University.
Born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1903, Dom Maurizio (born Jacques) Levy-Duplatt was first a member of the Benedictine monastery of Clervaux in Luxembourg before transferring to the Camaldolese hermits in Frascati, Italy at Sacro Eremo Tuscolano in 1946. Merton corresponded with him as he pondered leaving Gethsemani to join the Camaldolese. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 86.)
Sr. Pilar Lizárraga was a Sister of the Instituto de Hermanas Esclavas del Corazón de Jesús from Rancagua, Chile, and was planning to do a thesis on Merton at the Colegio de Jesús in Salta, Argentina. Her proposed thesis was to be under the title, "Modern Man and his Search of Solitude in Thomas Merton".
A. López Llausás writes from Buenos Aires, Argentina, on behalf of Editorial Sudamericana S.A.
Jan Milic Lochman was born in Nove Mesto nad Metuji, Czechoslovakia. A theologian and professor of the Reformed tradition, he was ordained a minister of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren. He began a professorship in theology in Prague in 1950. In 1964, he was visiting the United States. He was due to go to Richmond, Virginia, but after a flight delay and change of plans, John Heidbrink arranged for him to come to Louisville and Gethsemani. Merton writes about Lochman in diary entries of March 6 and 19, 1964, describing a long conversation on Barth and Pope John XXIII lasting late into the night. After the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Lochman came with his family to New York and taught at Union Theological Seminary. He was later involved with the World Council of Churches and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. He was the author of a number of theological texts. (Source: Nyomi, Setri; and Milan Opocensky. "Jan Milic Lochman, 1922-2004". website of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. 1 January 2004. Accessed 12 September 2005. ‹http://warc.jalb.de/warcajsp/side.jsp?news_id=186&part_id=0&navi=6›.)
John Logan was writing on behalf of the Thomas More Association from Chicago. The association was responsible for the Thomas More Book Club, the Thomas More Book Shop, and the publication «The Critic», which published some of Merton's poems.
Sr. Marialein Lorenz was a Sinsinawa Dominican sister and teacher. She first writes from Mobile, Alabama, and later from Anaconda, Montana. While in Mobile during the 1940's and 1950's, she taught at an exclusively African-American high school. Merton and her students exchanged letters, and the students send Merton an amice, corporal, purificator and finger towel for his ordination. (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 314.)
Fr. Louis Marié was a Trappist monk of Sainte Marie-du-Desert Abbey in Bellegarde, France.
Mina Loy spent her later years in Aspen, Colorado, and Merton writes to her there. "Loy moved from Victorian England to impressionist Paris, to futurist Florence, to bohemian Greenwich Village and back to expatriate Paris during her long career. . . . Painter, poet, actress, playwright, feminist, mother, designer, conceptual artist - her range of skills and experience make it difficult to place her too squarely in any one artistic category." (Source: Hanscombe, Gillian and Virginia L. Smyers, "Mina Loy's Life" on the website of Modern American Poetry at Illinois University. Accessed 11 March 2009. ‹http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/loy/bio.htm›.)
Pierre Lucas writes from the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris, France.
Sr. Lurana was a Missionary Sister of the Blessed Sacrament from New Orleans, Louisiana. At the time of correspondence, she was Exhibits Director for an art Xavier University and arranged to have Merton's art displayed there.
Fr. Thomas MacMaster was a Trappist priest from the Abbey of Notre-Dame-des-Prairies in St. Norbert, Manitoba, Canada.
Una Maguire was a psychologist writing to thank Merton for his article "Notes on Love" that appeared in the Autumn 1967 issue of «Frontiers».
Bill Manning writes from Hopkins, Minnesota.
Fr. Marcellus was a Trappist monk of Holy Spirit Abbey in Conyers, Georgia.
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. Maria da Concricão da Virginem Dolorosa writes from the Carmelite convent of St. Teresa in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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.
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.
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.
Dom Marie-Joseph Marquis was Abbot of Notre Dame de Grâce in Bricquebec, France, from 1940-1981.
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 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.
Archimandrite Elie Mastroyanopoulos writes from Athens, Greece.
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.
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.
Sr. Mary Maurice and Sr. Lillian were Felician Sisters of the St. Teresa of Avila Convent in Akron, New York.
Leonard F. X. Mayhew was Publicity Editor for Sheed and Ward in New York.
Eoin McCarthy writes from London, England.
Bishop William Joseph McDonald (at the time of writing to Merton, Msgr. William J. McDonald) was Editor-in-Chief of the «New Catholic Encyclopedia» and asks Merton to contribute. Merton sends an article on spiritual direction. McDonald writes from Washington, D.C.
Vincent F. McGee writes from New York.
Peggy McKenna was a homemaker writing from Orange, Texas.
Henry A. McKervey writes to the editor of «Harper's» from Spokane, Washington, in response to "Apologies to an Unbeliever", published in the November 1966 issue of «Harper's Magazine» (and later appeared with a related article in the book Faith and Violence).
Fr. John McNearney was a doctoral student at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and was writing a dissertation called "The Relation between Prayer and Involvement in the World". He asked if Merton would send him a bibliography of his works so he could include some of it as source material.
Robert F. W. Meader was Director of the Shaker Museum Foundation in Old Chatham, New York.
Sr. Xristine Anne Marie van der Meer de Walcheren was a Benedictine religious sister writing from Notre Dame Abbey in Oosterhout, the Netherlands.
Gianni Menarini was Editor of «Il Tarocco», an Italian magazine of literature and art. He asks Merton for a poem and a statement on the relationship between religion and poetry.
Robert Menchin was working on a project involving career change and asks Merton's input on the subject. While the decision to go to a monastery is somewhat different, Merton describes his vocation to the monastic life and the thoughts he went through as an aspiring writer who may have had to give up that life.
Agnes Gertrude Stonehewer Merton, Thomas Merton's Aunt "Kit", was Owen Merton's sister, and she lived in New Zealand. Thomas Merton met her twice: once coming with her mother Gertrude Hannah Merton to Flushing, New York, in 1919; and once visiting him at Gethsemani in 1961. She suffered a tragic death aboard the ferry «Wahine», which sank between New Zealand's largest islands. (Source: The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, p. 293).
Percyval Tudor-Hart was the art teacher and mentor of Thomas Merton's father, the painter Owen Merton.
See also, Merton's manuscript essay "Two Comments: 'SENSITIVITY TRAINING' [BY CHARLOTTE BUHLER] AND 'THE AVANT GARDE IN THE ARTS' [BY HENRY WINTHROP AND GERALD SYKES]."
Rhoda Rissin was Assistant to James Laughlin, head of New Directions publishers from Norfolk, Connecticut.
Mery-Lú Sananes was a student in the Facultad de Humanidades y Educación at the Universidad Central in Caracas, Venezuela, as were the others that signed his initial letter to Merton: Jaime López-Sanz, Irene Flores, and Ramón Montiel. They write to inform Merton that LAM, a student literary group, translated his poem "Original Child Bomb" into Spanish (as "Niña Bomba Original"). Sananes and López-Sanz did the translation.
Philip Griggs writes to Merton from Carmichael, California. He later joined the Ramakrishna Vedanta Center in London, England. Between his correspondence in 1965 and 1971, he had taken the name Swami Yogeshananda. He was in his later years the director of the Vedanta Center of Atlanta.
A. Philip Randolph was in the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans, a socialist and union leader fighting for workers writes and equality. Born in Florida, he moved to Harlem in 1911 to get into theater. Enrolling at the City College of New York, he changed life plans and majored in politics and economics. Together with Columbia University student Chandler Owen, he founded the radical magazine, The Messenger, in 1917. He organized a union called the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, the Pullman Company being a major employer of African Americans. He was a supporter of non-violent means of protest and generally anti-war, fighting discrimination in the armed forces during the 1940's. During the 1950's and 1960's, he served as vice president of the AFL-CIO unions. Along with Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King, Jr., he helped organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. The following year, he was given a Presidential Medal of Freedom. (Source: "A. Philip Randolph." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 9 Feb 2006, 04:34 UTC. 15 Feb 2006, ‹http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A._Philip_Randolph&oldid=38873488›.)
Vera Zorina (born Eva Brigitta Hartwig) was a dancer and actress born in Berlin in 1917. In 1933, she was discovered in London by representatives of the Ballet Russe, Leonide Massine and Colonel de Basil, who gave her stage name. The Goldwyn Follies in 1938 launched her movie career. She was at one time married to famous ballet choreographer George Balanchine. She writes to Merton under Brigitta Lieberson (the last name was of her second husband, Goddard Lieberson). She sends Merton a recording she did of Hérodiade, but is concerned that it is not appropriate for a monastic audience. Merton expresses his enjoyment in the recording and continues to correspond with Zorina.
Richard Meyers would later become a significant figure in punk rock under the name Richard Hell.
All files under “Beecher, John”.
Fr. Terence Connolly was Director of Libraries for Boston College from 1944 until 1959, succeeded by Brendan Connolly. He obtained a copy of a manuscript for «The Seven Storey Mountain» in the late 1940's.
Raymond A. DeSutter, II was a novice at Gethsemani under Merton. His name in religion was Fr. Robert and was at Gethsemani Abbey from 1957-1963.
Merton wrote the foreword to Sally Donnelly's master's thesis at Smith College entitled "Marcel and Buddha : a metaphysics of enlightenment." This later became Merton's essay entitled "Nirvana," which was included in his book «Zen and the Birds of Appetite». Merton's friend and Smith professor Amiya Chakravarty sent it to Merton.
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist and brother of composer George Gershwin.
Herman Hanekamp was born in Oldenburg, Germany in 1884. After immigration to the United States in 1904, not much is known other than a couple of years he spent as a cowboy in Texas before riding a horse to Gethsemani when he entered in 1912 (account by Raymond DeSutter [formerly Fr. M. Robert in religious life during his time at Gethsemani]. Hanekamp had taken simple vows but was dismissed in 1917. After leaving vowed religious life, he contnued to live near the monastery. Whether Hanekamp was officially given land that was later reaquired by the abbey is uncertain. He had a small dwelling and raised crops, goats, and pigs. He died in 1958.
The sculptor Marc Hénard writes to Merton from Saint-Léger-Vauban, a town in Burgundy, France, which is also the home of the Benedictine Abbey of Pierre Qui Vire. He sends Merton some photographs of his work at Pierre Qui Vire and a photograph of a tower at the monastery at the request of Dom Angélico Surchamp, O.S.B., of La Pierre-qui-Vire Abbey. The material on sacred art is for "Art and Worship," an unpublished manuscript of a book Merton planned to publish on sacred art.
