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Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk and author, born in Prades in the Pyrénées-Orientales département of France. Merton wrote more than 50 books, 2000 poems, and scores of essays, reviews, book introductions, and lectures.

Background

Merton was educated in the United States, Bermuda and France before attending Oakham School in England. His father, Owen Merton, was an artist from New Zealand and his mother, an artist and a Quaker, was from the United States. His mother died when he was six and his father when he was sixteen. After a disastrous first year at Cambridge University, during which time he allegedly fathered an illegitimate child, Merton moved back to the United States to live with his grandparents. He proceeded to take his bachelor's and master's degrees at Columbia, where he made the acquaintance of a group of artists and writers who would remain his friends for life.

Merton converted to Catholicism in his early twenties during the period he was writing his master's thesis on William Blake. His desire to enter the Franciscans being thwarted, he taught at St. Bonaventure's College, in Olean, New York and, following a retreat at the Trappist (Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, O.C.S.O.) Abbey of Gethsemani near Bardstown, Kentucky during Easter 1941, he came to a crisis with call up looming and was finally accepted as a postulant to the choir (with the intention of becoming a priest) at Gethsemani on December 13th, 1941 (the Feast of Saint Lucy).

During his long years at Gethsemani (where he was encouraged to write) Merton changed from the passionately inward-looking young monk of his most famous book, the autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, to a contemplative writer and poet who became well known for his dialogue with other faiths and his stand on non-violence during the race riots and Vietnam War of the 1960s, and finally achieved the solitude he had long desired in a hermitage in 1965. During these years he had many battles with his abbot about not being allowed out of the monastery, balanced by his international reputation and voluminous correspondence with many well-known figures of the day.

A new abbot allowed him the freedom to undertake a tour of Asia at the end of 1968, during which he memorably met the Dalai Lama in India. He also made a visit to Polonnaruwa (in what was then Ceylon), where he had a religious experience while viewing enormous statues of the Buddha. There is speculation that Merton wished to remain in Asia as a hermit. However, he died in Bangkok on 10th December 1968, having touched a badly-grounded electric fan while stepping out of his bath. His body was flown back to Gethsemani where he is buried. Since his death, his influence has continued to grow and he is considered by many to be an important twentieth century Catholic mystic.

Merton put a ban on publishing much of his work until 25 years after his death. After that time his diaries were published.

In recognition of his close association with Bellarmine University, the official repository for Merton's archives is the Thomas Merton Center on the Bellarmine campus in Louisville, Kentucky. The Thomas Merton Award, a peace prize, has been awarded since 1972 by the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Social Justice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

Selected bibliography

References

  • Forest, Jim, "Living With Wisdom" (ISBN 088344755X) A profusely illustrated biography of Thomas Merton.

  • Mott, Michael, The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton (ISBN 015680681) A comprehensive biography.

  • Shannon, William H., Christine M. Bochen, Patrick F. O'Connell The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia (ISBN 1570754268) published by Orbis Books

See also

External links

1915 births | 1968 deaths | American theologians | Christian mystics | Trappists | Pacifists | Vietnam War people

Thomas Merton | Thomas Merton | Thomas Merton | Thomas Merton | Thomas Merton | Thomas Merton | Thomas Merton | Thomas Merton

 

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