Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1952 March 17 (Creation)
Extent
1 page(s); Carbon copy of a typed letter (not signed).
Name of creator
Biographical history
Fr. Paul Bourne was the head censor (now called "reader") of the Cistercian Order and needed to approve of Merton's writings before he received the «Imprimi Potest», or permission to publish, from his Order and the Church. He was more considerably more friendly with Merton and more lenient of his works than other censors. Fr. Paul was at Our Lady of the Holy Ghost Abbey (now called the Monastery of the Holy Spirit) in Conyers, Georgia. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 168.)
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
First lines: "Your brief sketch of St. John of the Cross is very nice except for one aspect which I hope you will"... Contents index: [see "Censors Reports" file in correspondence for signed copy - from a file kept by Dom James Fox on censorship] "Saints for Now" by Clare Boothe Luce with an essay by Merton regarding St. John of the Cross - censor's comments - concern about the Carmelite "prison incident, 'monastic incarceration'" and that, without fuller context, it would be confusing to readers and upsetting to the Carmelites - sent to Merton with note from Br. Alfred, O.C.S.O. of 1952/July/07.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
The donor or source was: Gethsemani Abbey Archives.