Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968

Thomas Merton was born on January 31, 1915 in Prades, France to Owen Merton (an artist from New Zealand) and Ruth Jenkins Merton (an artist from the United States), and grew up in New York, Bermuda, France, and England. Merton studied both in Europe and America, and he received a BA and an MA in journalism from Columbia University in 1938 and 1939.

In 1938, Merton converted to Catholicism. He taught for two years at St. Bonaventure College in New York before entering the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, a community of monks belonging to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists), in 1941. He made his simple vows in 1944, and solemn vows in 1947. He was ordained a priest in 1949 and took the name Father M. Louis. At Gethsemani, Merton served as Master of Scholastics (1951-1955) and Master of Novices (1955-1965), before retreating to a hermitage on the grounds of the abbey in 1965. Merton became a prominent author of both poetry and prose, initially gaining international renown for his 1948 autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. While maintaining his strict devotional life, he prolifically wrote books and articles on a wide variety of subjects, such as Catholic spirituality, civil rights, literary criticism, monastic renewal, pacifism, and Zen Buddhism.

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