Thomas Merton was a well-known twentieth-century American Catholic novelist best known for works such as ‘The Seven Storey Mountain,’ ‘New Seeds of Contemplation,’ and ‘Zen and the Birds of Appetite.’ Merton was a prolific author with over 70 novels to his name. Merton was a very religious man who spent the most of his life writing about peace, justice, and ecumenism in poetry, personal journals, and letter collections. Merton grew up in a fairly mixed environment, having been born in France to parents of New Zealand and American descent. Merton was raised as a Catholic and eventually joined the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, a community of monks (Trappists). As a priest, Merton became increasingly interested in Asian faiths, notably Zen Buddhism, in his final years. The Dalai Lama praised Merton for his tireless efforts to promote East-West monastic interaction. Merton had received harsh criticism from both Catholics and non-Catholics for his broad ideas on religion and social activism. He followed Buddhism and disseminated it like no other Christian in history.
Childhood of Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton was born on January 31, 1915, in Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales, France, to Owen Merton, a New Zealand-born painter, and Ruth Jenkins, an American Quaker and an Artist. Merton was baptized in the Church of England, as per his father’s desires. Owen Merton was a sporadic presence during Thomas’ youth due to his faltering work as an artist.
In August 1915, the Merton family relocated from Prades to the United States as a result of World War I. Mertons first lived with Ruth’s parents on Long Island, New York, before relocating to Douglaston, New York. Merton’s younger brother John Paul was born on November 2, 1918, in an old house in Flushing, New York, where they had moved in 1917. During this period, Thomas’ family planned to travel to France, but his mother, Ruth, was stricken with stomach cancer and died on October 21, 1921, at the age of six, in Bellevue Hospital in New York.
Merton’s father went to Bermuda in 1922, leaving his younger son, John Paul, in the care of his in-laws, the Jenkins, at Douglaston. When Thomas Merton learned about his father’s affair with American novelist Evelyn Scott, who was married to Cyril Kay-Scott at the time, he was still grieving the loss of his mother. Merton was known to dislike Evelyn, who allegedly abused Merton severely during his stay in Bermuda.
Merton returned to Douglaston in 1923 to live with his brother John Paul and the Jenkins family. Merton’s father, Evelyn Scott, and her husband Cyril Kay-Scott, went to Europe, passing through France, Italy, England, and Algeria. Merton later jokingly dubbed his father and his band the “Bermuda Triangle.” Owen Merton was in Algeria in 1924 when he received word of his illness. Thomas became concerned about his father’s health. Owen was found to be suffering from an early symptom of a brain tumor (which later took his life).
By March 1925, Owen Merton had established himself as a well-known artist, and he had planned a display at the Leicester Galleries in London. He took young Merton to live with him in Saint-Antonin, France, but Merton had spent the previous two years with his grandparents and had grown devoted to them, so the notion of living away from them was unappealing to him. Merton’s father and Evelyn Scott had discussed marriage on several times on their father-and-son journeys. Merton, on the other hand, saw that the bond between his son and Scott could not be improved, so he sacrificed his relationship with her to be with his kid.
Youth and Early Childhood Education
Merton was enrolled in the Lycée Ingres, a boys’ boarding school in Montauban, by his father in 1926. Merton struggled to settle in at the boarding school at first since he was upset and lonely from being separated from his father. He begged his father to take him away, but over time he grew accustomed to his surroundings and established friends. At the Lycée, Merton organized a youthful group of wannabe writers and even published two novels.
Merton spent his Christmas holidays in 1926 and 1927 in Murat, a tiny village in the Auvergne, with friends of his father. Merton became interested in Catholic beliefs and concepts despite the fact that he never attended regular Sunday Catholic masses at his boarding school. He also asserted that “all religions lead to God, but in various ways,” and that “each man should follow his own conscience and settle things according to his own private way of looking at things.” Merton’s father was preoccupied with his painting, travels, and exhibitions, but in the summer of 1928, his father took Merton out of Lycée Ingres and informed him that he would be traveling to England with him.
Stay in the United Kingdom.
Merton’s father drove him to Owen’s aunt and uncle’s house in Ealing, West London. Thomas was accepted into Ripley Court Preparatory School in Surrey, which was a boarding school. Merton was more enthusiastic about his studies at Ripley’s than he had been at his previous school. He had a stronger feeling of community, developed an interest in studies, and began attending services at the local Anglican Church, where Merton gave his prayers on a daily basis.
During the Easter holidays in 1929, Merton and Owen visited Canterbury in South East England. Owen became ill again during this time, and Merton became tense and apprehensive. Merton returned to normal only once his father recovered following a visit to the hospital.
Merton enrolled in Oakham School, a residential school in Rutland, England, in 1930 and excelled there. His grandmother and brother paid him a visit. Merton’s father Owen died on the 16th of January 1931, leaving Tom Bennett, Owen Merton’s physician and former classmate in New Zealand, as Merton’s legal guardian. Merton began staying at Bennett’s London residence over the Oakham holidays in 1931. Merton spent a week in Rome and Florence in 1931, as well as visiting his grandparents in New York throughout the summer. Merton became the joint editor of his school journal, ‘Oakhamian,’ after returning to Oakham.
Merton passed the Clare College, Cambridge, entrance exam in September 1932. When he turned 18, he decided to take control of his life and set out on his own, stopping in Paris, Marseilles, and then walking to Hyeres. He also walked from Saint Tropez to Genoa, then to Florence, from where he flew to Rome. Merton’s life was completely transformed as a result of this trip.
A Day in the Life in Rome
Merton arrived in Rome in February 1933 and moved from his hotel to a modest pensione with views of the Palazzo Barberini and San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, two of Rome’s most beautiful and historically significant buildings. Merton went to church on a regular basis, despite not understanding why he was so drawn to religion and churches. During his time in Rome, Merton developed a strong religious faith. His travels to the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Basilica, and churches and basilicas in Rome, including the Lateran Baptistery, Santa Costanza, the Basilica di San Clemente, Santa Prassede, and Santa Pudenziana, were documented in his book ‘The Seven Storey Mountain.’
Visiting the United States
Merton traveled to the United States by boat from Italy in 1933. Before enrolling at Clare College, he paid a visit to his grandparents in Douglaston. He looked for a church since the religious ideals he had acquired in Rome had not left him. He attended Douglaston’s Zion Episcopal Church, but despised the poor church services. As a result, he went to a Quaker Meeting in Flushing, New York. The silence, as well as the entire atmosphere, appealed to him. Merton returned to England as the summer came to an end.
Continuing Education
Merton enrolled at Clare College as a student in October 1933. He discovered that some of his Oakham classmates were also studying at Cambridge. Merton was a heavy drinker who was also known among his buddies as a womanizer. Many of Merton’s biographers claim that he met a woman at Cambridge who gave birth to his child. The child, however, was never recognized. Merton finished his exams and departed Cambridge in May 1934.
Columbia University’s education
Merton enrolled as a sophomore at Columbia University in Manhattan in January 1935. Merton spent his summer vacations with his brother, John Paul, and claimed to have seen every film released between 1934 and 1937. Merton joined a Casa Italiana picket in October 1935 as part of a protest against Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia. Merton’s grandfather, Samuel Jenkins, died in 1936, and Merton dropped out of school as a result of the news. In February 1937, Merton was introduced to genuine Catholicism after reading Étienne Gilson’s book “The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy.”
Merton graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English in January 1938. In June 1938, Merton was invited to a meeting with Mahanambrata Brahmachari, a Hindu monk visiting from the University of Chicago, by his friend Seymour Freedgood. Merton was awestruck by the monk, and he was said to regard the monk’s opinions and theological views as profound. Merton went so far as to ask the Brahmachari to advocate his views and religion to them, to which the Hindu monk recommended Merton and his buddy to reconnect with their own spiritual roots and traditions.
The Hindu monk advised Merton to read ‘Augustine’s Confessions’ and ‘The Imitation of Christ,’ which astonished Merton greatly because these were Christian works recommended by a Hindu monk. Merton ultimately chose to go to Mass in August 1938 and went to Corpus Christi Church on West 121st Street in Morningside Heights, which he found strange at first but continued to attend. Soon after, he became strongly attached, and he began devouring Catholic books.
While pursuing his degree, Merton worked on his William Blake thesis. Merton realized that he needed to become a priest in order to fully pursue the Catholic road in September 1938, while reading a book about Gerard Manley Hopkins’ conversion to Catholicism and how he became a priest. Merton was baptized and received Holy Communion at Corpus Christi Church on November 16, 1938. He obtained his M.A. in English from Columbia University on February 22, 1939. He relocated from Douglaston to Greenwich Village to obtain a Ph.D. at Columbia University.
In January 1939, he heard a lot of good things about a part-time teacher on campus named Daniel Walsh from his peers, so he decided to take a course with Walsh on Thomas Aquinas. At a Catholic Book Club meeting in March 1939, Walsh introduced Merton to Jacques Maritain during a discussion on Catholic Action. Merton received Confirmation at Corpus Christi on May 25, 1939, and was given the name James.
The Path to Priesthood
Following a long night out at a jazz club in October 1939, Merton was joined by his friends at his home at his request, where he discussed his wish to become a priest. Merton met with his teacher Dan Walsh, whom he had great faith in, to talk about his plans to become a priest. Merton was spiritually and intellectually more prepared for a priestly vocation in a specific order, according to Walsh, and they talked about the Jesuits, Cistercians, and Franciscans.
Walsh arranged for Merton to meet with a friend, Fr. Edmund Murphy, at the St. Francis of Assisi monastery on 31st Street, where he was interviewed and given an application, as well as Fr. Murphy’s personal offer to become a Franciscan friar. However, by 1940, Merton was beginning to rethink his decision to become a Franciscan. Merton made an appointment with Fr. Murphy to discuss his worries. Despite his sympathy during the encounter, Fr. Murphy told Merton to come the next day. According to Fr. Murphy, Merton was shocked the next day when he learned that he was no longer regarded appropriate for a Franciscan vocation as a monk.
Merton traveled to Olean, New York, in early August 1940 to visit friends, including Robert Lax and Ed Rice, at a cottage where they had vacationed the previous summer. He needed work and went to St. Bonaventure for an interview with then-president Fr. Thomas Plassman, where he was lucky enough to find an opening in the English department and was employed on the spot. Because he still desired to be a friar, Merton chose St. Bonaventure.
Merton moved into a dormitory on the St. Bonaventure University campus in September 1940. Soon after, he gave up smoking and drinking in favor of a monk’s life of reading books and avoiding movies. Merton proceeded to the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani near Bardstown, Kentucky, for a retreat he had scheduled for Holy Week in April 1941. He was immediately drawn to the location and felt his emotions lift during his stay.
Thomas Merton arrived in the Abbey of Gethsemani on December 10, 1941, and stayed at the monastery guest house for three days while waiting to be accepted into the Order. Merton was put to work washing floors and scrubbing dishes after being questioned about his honesty and qualifications. Dom Frederic Dunne, Gethsemani’s Father Abbot, received him into the monastery as a postulant on December 13, 1941. Merton was welcomed as a novice monk at the monastery in March 1942, on the first Sunday of Lent.
Merton received a letter from his brother John Paul in June 1942, informing him that he was going to war and would be stopping by Gethsemani to see Merton before leaving. On the 17th of July, Merton and John reconnected. John was christened on July 26, 1942, at a church in nearby New Haven, Kentucky, before departing the next day. John Paul died over the English Channel on April 17, 1943, when his plane’s engines failed. Merton references his brother John Paul in a poem at the end of ‘The Seven Storey Mountain.’
Writing as a profession
Merton studied a lot of books and kept various journals during his time at Gethsemani. Merton’s superior, Father Abbot Dom Frederic, recognized his excellent intellect and writing ability. Merton was tasked with translating holy books and writing biographies on the saints for the monastery in 1943, and he excelled at his new writing project. Merton received the white cowl, black scapular, and leather belt on March 19, 1944, as he took up his temporary profession of vows.
‘Thirty Poems,’ a book of poems Merton had given to friend Robert Lax the previous year, was published by James Laughlin at New Directions in November 1944. Merton’s second poetry collection, ‘A Man in the Divided Sea,’ was published by New Directions in 1946, and it received a lot of praise and attention. Harcourt Brace & Company accepted Merton’s manuscript for ‘The Seven Storey Mountain’ for publication in 1946. As a personal endeavor, Merton penned his biography, ‘The Seven Storey Mountain,’ in two-hour intervals in the monastic scriptorium.
Merton’s literary career had become comfortable for him by 1947. On March 19, 1947, he took solemn vows, promising to spend the rest of his life at the monastery. He also established correspondence with a Carthusian at Parkminster’s St. Hugh’s Charterhouse. Merton’s essay ‘Poetry and the Contemplative Life’ was published in the Catholic publication ‘Commonweal’ on July 4, 1947.
Merton received fan mail after the publication of The Seven Storey Mountain in 1948, which received high critical acclaim. ‘Guide to Cistercian Life,’ ‘Cistercian Contemplatives,’ ‘Figures for an Apocalypse,’ and ‘The Spirit of Simplicity’ were among the publications Merton published for the abbey that year. Merton was ordained as a subdeacon on December 21. Merton boarded a train to Louisville on January 5, 1949, to apply for citizenship in the United States. Merton evolved from a passionate monk to a deeply introspective writer and poet during his time at Gethsemani.
Estimated Net Worth
Thomas is one of the wealthiest celebrities and one of the most well-known. Thomas Merton’s net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.