Cardenal, Ernesto

Ernesto Cardenal was a poet and priest from Nicaragua who had studied as a novice under Merton at Gethsemani from 1957-1959. While in seminary in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in 1959, Cardenal began a correspondence with Merton. Cardenal later returned to his native country to found a contemplative lay community called Our Lady of Solentiname on an island in Lake Nicaragua. Founded as an artistic community, it became more involved with the plight of the poor in the region. After Cardenal allied himself with the Sandinistas, his community was destroyed by government forces 1977. (Source: The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, p. 41; ).