Thomas Merton OCSO (1915 – 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and named “Father Louis.” He was a member of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky, living there from 1941 to his death. Merton wrote more than fifty books in twenty-seven years, mostly on spirituality, social justice, quiet pacifism, and scores of essays and reviews. Merton’s bestselling autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), is among his most enduring works. His account of his spiritual journey inspired scores of World War II veterans, students, and teenagers to explore offerings of monasteries across the US. It is on the National Review’s list of the one hundred best nonfiction books of the century. [Source: Wikipedia]

Debora Buerk, Editor