The Very Rev. Eric Symes Abbott, 1906-1983, was an Anglican clergyman and Dean of Westminster.
Masao Abe was a Zen Buddhist scholar from Kyoto, Japan.
David Friend Aberle was a professor of anthropology at University of British Columbia whose specialty was the study of the Navajos.
Dom Inácio Accioly was abbot of the Mosteiro de São Bento in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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).
Fr. M. Aelred was a Trappist Cistercian monk from Rawaseneng Monastery (also written Rawa Seneng) on the island of Java in Indonesia.
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.
At the time of correspondence, Gregorio Pietro Cardinal Agagianian was Patriarch of Cilicia and of Armenia. He sends his letter and preface for «The Living Bread» from Beirut in December of 1955. Merton notes in a published letter to Sr. Therese Lentfoehr («The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 222) that Cardinal Agagianian's preface will not appear in the first printing of the book. However, by the first printing in 1956, it seems to have made it in.
Fr. Barnabas Ahern was a Passionist priest involved in a new Catholic Bible translation effort. He offered Merton advice on biblical instruction, instruction of novices, and reviewed Merton's early manuscripts and books. See the following link for more information on Fr. Ahern: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=92274263.
Mother Mary Aidan was a superior of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus.
Sibylle Akers was born in Dresden, Germany. She left Germany after the Second World War and moved to Texas. She was a well-known photographer. In September of 1959, she visited Gethsemani and took 26 photographs of Merton that are now part of the Merton Center collection. Akers sends letters and postcards from a visit to Europe in the mid-sixties. In 1965, she moved to Washington, D.C., because her husband was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson as Director of the U.S. Information Agency.
Alexandre Alexeieff writes from Paris, France regarding Boris Pasternak.
Julian Allan's title suggests he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
Canon Arthur MacDonald (Donald) Allchin was an Anglican priest who came to know Merton through Dr. Dale Moody of the Baptist Seminary in Louisville. When he first met Merton, Allchin was at Oxford and served as librarian for Pusey House and as a student chaplain. He would later become Canon Residentiary at Canterbury Cathedral, England (source: «The Hidden Ground of Love»).
William Allchin mentions that he is a psychiatrist and is the brother of Donald [Arthur MacDonald] Allchin, a priest with a larger collection of correspondence with Merton.
Susan Allman was with the publicity department of Seabury Press in New York.
Br. Zachary Amps was a monk of Gethsemani Abbey and, among his responsibilities, was to mail complementary copies of Merton's books to various people.
James Bruce Anderson served as editor for a journal of poetry called the "Charlatan" published by the Trinity Episcopal Church in Iowa City.
Fr. Kevin Anderson was a Trappist monk of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.
Jaime Andrade was an Ecuadorian sculptor and engraver from Quito. Merton commissioned him to do a statue of the Virgin Mary and child Jesus in dark wood for the novitiate library.
Edward Deming Andrews was a foremost authority on the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, or the Shakers. As Merton became exposed to the remains of the community at Pleasant Hill, he sought out Andrews' expertise. After Edward's death, Merton corresponded with his wife, Faith (see "Andrews, Faith Elizabeth" file). (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love».)
Wife of, and co-author with, Edward Deming Andrews in many books about the Shakers.
Reverend Mother Angela was abbess of the Trappist nuns at Mount St. Mary's Abbey in Wrentham, Massachusetts
Merton notes on copy of letter that Fr. Antoine is a Canadian Trappist.
Rita (Kenter) Anton is an author who writes to Merton from Oak Park, Illinois. She was a mutual friend of Merton's literary agent, Naomi Burton Stone.
Sr. Mary Antonella is was an administrator of the St. Joseph Infirmary in Louisville at the time of writing.
Br. Antoninus, who later went back to his birth name of William Everson, was a Californian poet associated with the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat movements, publishing under both his secular and religious names. He joined the Dominican Order in 1951 after a second failed marriage and remained a religious brother through his correspondence with Merton. In 1969, he left the Dominicans to enter a third marriage. He founded Lime Kiln Press and taught at University of California, Santa Cruz, which not only allowed him to continue his poetry, but also made him known as a master printer. (Sources: Nelson, Cary [ed]. An Online Journal and Multimedia Companion to the «Anthology of Modern American Poetry». Oxford University Press, 2000. ‹http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/everson/about.htm›.)
Hildebrand Cardinal Antoniutti is writing on behalf of the Sacred Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes in Rome.
Karen Apple wrote was a 16-year-old student at a Catholic high school. She writes from Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
At the time of writing, John Appleton was Senior Editor of «The Saturday Evening Post».
Abdol Reza Arasteh was born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1927. He had studied both Eastern and Western psychology and seemed to bridge Merton's earlier interest in psychology with his later interest in Sufism, Zen and other eastern traditions. He lived a number of years in the United States and became a citizen in 1976. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 40-41.)
Evora Arca de Sardiña was born in Cuba, attended high school in New York, and returned to Cuba in 1950. In Cuba, she was involved in social work the poor. When Castro came to power in 1959, she fled to the United States with her husband and her five sons and settled in Miami. Her husband, Eugenio, was part of the CIA-trained anti-Castro assault force captured at the Bay of Pigs. (Source: «Witness to Freedom».)
Robert K. Argentieri worked for Carroll, Kelly and Murphy, Counselors at Law, from Providence, RI, at time of writing.
At the time of writing, Bonnie Armstrong handled foreign rights for the publisher New Directions.
Johann Christoph Arnold (or John C. Arnold) is writing on behalf of the Plough Publishing House, affiliated with the Society of Brothers. The Society of Brothers is a group with Anabaptist roots and is often associated with the Hutterites and Bruderhof colonies.
Thérèse Arrés was from an area in the south of France and in the eastern Pyrenees, not far from Merton's birthplace of Prades.
Yanna Asch is writing on behalf of the School Department of the publisher Harcourt, Brace.
Rubén Astudillo is writing from Ecuador on behalf of the publication «El Mercurio».
Former monk of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. Previously listed under Fr. Anselm, O.C.S.O. (updated 2016).
David Aud is writing as a member of the Student Senate at St. Bonaventure University and is the son of Jim Aud, who was an English student of Merton's in the 1940's.
Sr. Marie Augustin is writing from a Trappistine monastery in Laval, France.
Fr. Gervasius Augustinius is writing from an Augustinian Monastery in Tanzania.
Waddell Austin was Managing Editor of Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards in Solana Beach, California, at the time of this correspondence.
Living in Karachi, Pakistan, Abdul Aziz can be attributed with sparking Merton's first interest in Sufism, an interest later shared with his novices at Gethsemani. Beginning their correspondence in late 1960, Merton and Aziz would exchange books and ideas. Aziz was introduced to Merton's work through Louis Massignon, a mutual friend. An important insight from these letters is Merton's response to Aziz's request for a description of his prayer life.
Fr. Pierre Babin, O.M.I. is writing as director of "Monde et Foi: Collection Internationale de Catéchèse pour Jeunes".
Stefan Baciu was a poet and professor of romance languages whose works include surveys of Latin American surrealistic poetry and themes of communism in poetry. He was editor of the literary magazine, «MELE». During his time of correspondence with Merton, he is first in Seattle and later in Honolulu.
Betsi Baeten was in eighth grade from West de Pere, Wisconsin, when she wrote to Merton. She was seeking some words for him on civil rights as she was serving as moderator for a group presenting this issue at a P.T.A. (Parent Teacher Association) meeting.
John Bagguley and Cecil Woolf were editors of the book «Authors Take Sides on Vietnam». The book asked a range of authors to address the following questions: "Are you for, or against, the intervention of the United States in Vietnam?"; and "How, in your opinion, should the conflict in Vietnam be resolved?". Other authors in the volume included: W. H. Auden; William F. Buckley, Jr.; William S. Burroughs; Lawrence Ferlinghetti; and Allen Ginsberg. The book was modeled after «Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War», published in 1937, and compiled by Nancy Cunard. Woolf and Bagguley write to Merton from London.
J. Martin Bailey was writing as editor of the United Church Herald, the journal of the United Church of Christ.
Sr. Mary Julian Baird is writing as a staff editor of the New Catholic Encyclopedia in Washington, D.C.
James Thomas Baker, at the time of writing, was a graduate student in humanities at Florida State University. He was writing an interdisciplinary dissertation about Merton in literature, the arts, and religion (see "Related Information" below). Baker first came to know of Merton's writings while a student of Glenn Hinson at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.
Hans Urs von Balthasar was a Catholic theologian from Switzerland. He was the author of over 60 books, which included theology, philosophy and spirituality. He is most famous for his work entitled «Herrlichkeit». (Source: "Balthasar, Hans Urs von." Biography from Chambers Biographical Dictionary. 1997. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 8 Aug. 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Dom John Eudes Bamberger stepped down as abbot of the Abbey of Our Lady of the Genesee in 2001. He came to Gethsemani in 1951 after having read «The Seven Storey Mountain» in the navy. He was sent to Washington, D.C., for studies in the psychiatric field and later helped Merton and Fr. Matthew Kelty in screening new applicants to the novitiate. (Source: The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, pp. 22-23).
Shojun Bando is writing as the assistant at the Eastern Buddhist Society at Otani University in Kyoto, Japan.
Sr. Elaine Michael Bane was in charge of a group of six Franciscan Sisters from Allegany, New York, in "ritiro", or living a cloistered life of contemplation.
Anthony L. Bannon was an editorial staff writer for «Magnificat», the newspaper of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, New York.
Sr. Mary Baptist is writing from the Incarnate Word Convent in Bellaire, Texas.
Sr. Mary Barbara is writing from St. Francis College in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Roger Barnard is writing as Features Editor for the publication «Peace News» from London.
