Thomas Merton
Birthday: January 31, 1915
Nationality: French, Thai, American
Famous: French Men French Men
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Died At Age: 53
Born Country: France
Born in: Prades
Famous as: Writer
father: Owen Merton
mother: Ruth Jenkins
siblings: John Paul Merton
religion: Roman Catholic
Died on: December 10, 1968
place of death: Bangkok
education: Columbia University, Clare College Cambridge, University of Cambridge
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Thomas Merton was a very famous American Catholic author of the twentieth century who is greatly known for writing classics like ‘The Seven Storey Mountain’, ‘New Seeds of Contemplation’ and ‘Zen and the Birds of Appetite’. Merton was a great writer who has a total of 70 books to his credit. Merton was a greatly religious personality who devoted most of his life writing on poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism, peace, justice and ecumenism. Merton had a very mixed upbringing being born in France and having parents of New Zealand and American birth. Merton was brought up as a Catholic and he went on to reach the community of monks belonging to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists). As a priest, Merton intently started following Asian religions, particularly Zen Buddhism in the later years of his life. Merton earned great praises from Dalai Lama for his great efforts in promoting East-West monastic dialogue. For his broad views on religion and social activism Merton had been subjected to severe criticism from Catholics and non-Catholics. He followed and spread Buddhism like no other Christian in the history of mankind.
THOMAS MERTON TIMELINE
Thomas Merton was born on 31 January
Due to the World War I, Merton family moved from Prades to United States in August
– The Merton family shifted to an old house in Flushing, New York
Merton’s younger brother John Paul was born on 2 November
His mother, Ruth got diagnosed with stomach cancer of which she died on 21 October
Merton’s father made a trip to the Bermudas leaving his younger son, John Paul with his in-laws, the Jenkins in Douglaston. Thomas Merton was still recovering from the loss of his mother when he came to know about his father’s affair with the American novelist Evelyn Scott who was then married to Cyril Kay-Scott. Merton was said to have never liked Evelyn who greatly abused young Merton during his stay in Bermuda
Merton returned to Douglaston to live with the Jenkins family and his brother John Paul
Owen Merton was in Algeria when the news of his illness arrived. Thomas grew anxious of his father’s health. Owen was diagnosed of having an early symptom of the brain tumour (which later took his life)
Owen Merton had become a prominent artist and by March and he organized a show at the Leicester Galleries in London. He took young Merton with him to live in Saint-Antonin in France but Merton had lived with his grandparents for the last two years and had become attached to them and did not quite like the idea of living away from them. During the father and son travels Merton's father and Evelyn Scott had discussed marriage on occasions. However, Merton’s Merton realised that his son and Scott’s relation could not be improved and he sacrificed his relationship with her to be with his son
Merton was enrolled in a boys' boarding school in Montauban, the Lycée Ingres by his father
Merton’s father was busy with his painting, travels and exhibitions but in the summer Merton was taken out of Lycée Ingres and informed by his father that he would be moving with him to England
Merton and Owen went to Canterbury in South East England during the Easter Holidays. During this time Owen fell ill again and Merton got tensed and anxious. Only after his father recovered after visiting the hospital did Merton become normal
Merton was enrolled in Oakham School, a boarding school in Rutland, England where he was successful. He was visited by his grandparents and brother
On 16 January Oakham’s term had resumed when Merton’s father Owen died leaving Tom Bennett, Owen Merton's physician and former classmate in New Zealand to become Merton's legal guardian
Merton started using Bennett’s London home during the Oakham holidays
Merton travelled to Rome and Florence for a week and also visited his grandparents in New York during the summer
– In September Merton cleared the entrance exam for Clare College, Cambridge
Merton took a boat from Italy to travel to United States. He visited his grandparents in Douglaston before getting enrolled into Clare College
– In October Merton entered Clare College as an undergraduate. He found some of his Oakham classmates attending Cambridge with him
In May Merton completed his exams and left Cambridge
In January Merton entered Columbia University in Manhattan as a sophomore
In October, Merton joined a picket of the Casa Italiana to become a part of the protest of Italy's invasion of Ethiopia.
Merton's grandfather, Samuel Jenkins died, resulting Merton to leave his school after receiving the news
Merton got introduced to proper Catholicism in February when he read a book titled ‘The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy’ by Étienne Gilson
In January, Merton received his graduation with a B.A. in English from Columbia University
In June, Merton was invited by his friend Seymour Freedgood for a meeting with Mahanambrata Brahmachari, a Hindu monk in New York visiting from the University of Chicago
In August, Merton finally decided to attend Mass and went to Corpus Christi Church located near to the Columbia campus on West 121st Street in Morningside Heights which he found foreign but he kept attending it. Soon he got deeply attached and he started reading Catholic texts greatly
In September Merton realised that he too should become a priest to properly follow the path of Catholocism and this took place while Merton was reading a book about Gerard Manley Hopkins' conversion to Catholicism and how he became a priest
On 16 November Merton got baptized at Corpus Christi Church and received Holy Communion
On 22 February he received his M.A. in English from Columbia University. He decided to pursue a Ph.D. at Columbia for which he moved from Douglaston to Greenwich Village
In January he heard greatly about a part-time teacher on campus named Daniel Walsh, from his peers, which made him take a course on Thomas Aquinas with Walsh
Walsh introduced Merton to Jacques Maritain at a lecture on Catholic Action, which took place at a Catholic Book Club meeting in March
On 25 May Merton received Confirmation at Corpus Christi, and took the confirmation name James
In October Merton was joined by his friends on his request at his place following a long night out at a jazz club when he shared his desire to become a priest
In early August Merton went to Olean, New York, to stay with friends, including Robert Lax and Ed Rice, at a cottage where they had vacationed the summer before
In September, Merton moved into a dormitory on St. Bonaventure’s campus. Soon he gave up smoking, drinking and chose a monk’s life reading books and even abstaining from movies
In April Merton went to a retreat he had booked for Holy Week at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani near Bardstown, Kentucky. He got attracted to the place immediately and could feel his spirits rise during his stay
On 10 December Thomas Merton arrived at the Abbey of Gethsemani spending three days at the monastery guest house, waiting for acceptance into the Order. He was tested about his sincerity and qualifications and Merton was put to work polishing floors and scrubbing dishes
On 13 December he got accepted into the monastery as a postulant by Dom Frederic Dunne, Gethsemani's Father Abbot
In March, during the first Sunday of Lent, Merton was accepted as a novice monk at the monastery
In June Merton received a letter from his brother John Paul who stated that he would leave for war and would be coming to Gethsemani to visit Merton before leaving
On 17 July Merton and his brother John caught up with each other
On 26 July John was baptized at a church in nearby New Haven, Kentucky before leaving the next day
On 17 April John Paul died when his plane's engines failed over the English Channel. In a poem at the end of ‘The Seven Storey Mountain’ Merton mentions his brother John Paul
Merton was tasked to translate religious texts and write biographies on the saints for the monastery to which he rose greatly and took his new writing assignment very seriously
On 19 March, Merton took up his temporary profession of vows and was given the white cowl, black scapular and leather belt
- In November a manuscript Merton had given to friend Robert Lax the previous year was published by James Laughlin at New Directionsa book of poetry titled ‘Thirty Poems’
New Directions published Merton’s another poetry collection, ‘A Man in the Divided Sea’ which brought great appreciation and recognition for Merton
Merton’s manuscript for ‘The Seven Storey Mountain’ was accepted by Harcourt Brace & Company for publication. Merton wrote his biography, ‘The Seven Storey Mountain’ during two-hour intervals in the monastery scriptorium as a personal project
– By this time Merton had become comfortable with his writing career
On 19 March he took his solemn vows, a commitment to live out his life at the monastery. He also began corresponding with a Carthusian at St. Hugh's Charterhouse in Parkminster, England
On 4 July the Catholic journal ‘Commonweal’ published an essay by Merton titled ‘Poetry and the Contemplative Life’
– ‘The Seven Storey Mountain’ was published which earned great critical appreciation and Merton was subjected to fan mails
On 5 January Merton took a train to Louisville and applied for U.S. citizenship
On 10 December Merton was to attend an interfaith conference between Catholic and non-Christian monks when he came out of his bath to adjust an electric fan and apparently touched an exposed wire to get electrocuted and die a painful death
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