THOMAS MERTON
AT CORPUS CHRISTI CHURCH
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Born in France and educated in England, Thomas Merton entered Columbia University in 1935. He joined a fraternity, lived in a rooming house at the edge of the campus, and partied enthusiastically. Neither he nor his family were terribly religious.
Then one Sunday in August 1938, Thomas got up early and ventured into Mass at Corpus Christi. In September he knocked on the rectory door and asked for instruction. And on November 16, 1938, he was baptized into the Catholic Church.
Merton's passport photo
when he arrived in the U.S
Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey
He finished his master's degree in English and taught at St. Bonaventure College in upstate New York. But home was to be the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where Merton lived for 27 years.
He wrote prodigiously, at first about strictly spiritual topics, then about peace and war, justice and injustice. Eastern meditation, and Zen Buddhism in particular, came to interest him greatly. Eventually he lived as a hermit on the monastery grounds.
Merton returned to New York for a few days in 1964 to visit Daisetz Suzuki; while here, he returned to Corpus Christi, where he said Mass privately each morning.
In December 1968, while attending a conference of Asian Benedictines and Cistercians in Thailand, he died in an electrical accident. His fame and his influence have only grown since then.
Merton's grave at the abbey
Click here to see Thomas Merton's baptism and confirmation records at Corpus Christi.
Click here for Merton quotes about Corpus Christi.
Click here for an article in the Columbia Spectator about Merton and our present pastor.
Click here for the International Thomas Merton Society.
Click here for the Corpus Christi Chapter, International Thomas Merton Society.