The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Dardenne, Myriam, Mother, O.C.S.O., 1920-2002

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1965, 1968

Volume: 34 item(s); 42 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Biography

Mother Myriam Dardenne founded Redwoods Abbey, a Trappist community of women, in White Thorn, California. Merton met her on her way to found it in 1962. Later, he visited Redwoods before continuing his trip to Asia. They discuss Merton's travel plans and arrangements for a meeting of contemplative religious at Redwoods Monastery.

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Related Information and Links

Three letters from Dardenne can be found in the "Webster, Portia" file. See also "Brennan, Benedicta" and "Breitenbeck, Joseph Matthew" for more information about reform in the lives of women religious; see also published letters from Merton to Mother Myriam in The School of Charity, pp. 158-159, 267-268, 370, 378-379, 386-387, 389-391, 393, 395-397, 408-409. Both sides of the correspondence and previously unpublished letters by Merton are published in Thomas Merton in Californiapp. 385-415.

Other Finding Aids

If the person in correspondence with Merton has full text records in the Merton Center Digital Collections, there will be a numeric link to them below.
   

Series List

This Record Sub-Group is not divided into Series and is arranged chronologically.

Container List

SeriesDateTypeTo/FromFirst LinesPubFull TextNotes
 1962/12/12 TLS[x]from MertonI hope you are by now well settle in your new home. I have not heard any news from your or aboutYes [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
 1963/01/02 (#01)TLS[x]from MertonMerci de votre bonne lettre. Vous avez sans doute reçu trois boites de livres que je vous ai envoyésYes  
 1963/01/02 (#02)transcriptfrom MertonThank you for your good letter. You have undoubtedly received three boxes of books which I sent youYes [French translation of Merton's letter in French by Michele Lamarche]
 1965/03/06 (#01)TL[c]from MertonI received your letter the other day, and certainly there is nothing I would like better than toYes  
 1965/03/06 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonI received your letter the other day, and certainly there is nothing I would like better thanYes  
 1968/03/12 (#01)TL[c]from MertonI am happy to say that with the improved situation here I have been able to obtain permissionYes  
 1968/03/12 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonI am happy to say that with the improved situation here I have been able to obtain permissionYes [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
 1968/03/19 TLS[x]to MertonThank you for coming! The onlu [sic] problem is the question of dates. The reunion of abbesses ocso.Yes  
 1968/03/22 (#01)TL[c]from MertonMany thanks for your letter which came today. Strangely enough I as still not able to fit a fullYes  
 1968/03/22 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonMany thanks for your letter which came today. Strangely enough I as still not able to fit a fullYes [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
 1968/03/29 TLS from Sr. Cecilia to MertonMother Myriam asked me to look into the flight possibilities for your Westbound trip, and here isYes [Sr. Cecilia was Mother Myriam's secretary]
 1968/04/20 (#01)TL[c]from MertonAt last I think I am able to make more or less definite plans for the rest of my trip. I shall beYes  
 1968/04/20 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonAt last I think I am able to make more or less definite plans for the rest of my trip. I shall beYes [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
 1968/04/28 (#01)TL[c]from MertonIn just a week I hope to be with you. So now I am beginning to think a bit about what we might do.Yes [2 copies]
 1968/04/28 (#02)TL[c]from MertonIn just a week I hope to be with you. So now I am beginning to think a bit about what we might do.Yes [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
 1968/05/20 HLS[x] from Merton to the Sisters [at Redwoods Abbey]I am just leaving here to take the plane for Kentucky. This is a very isolated placeYes [Merton writes from the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, in Abiquiu, New Mexico]
 1968/06/29 (#01)TL[c]from MertonAre you back alive? Prison? Bread and water? I have often thought much about you and prayedYes  
 1968/06/29 (#02)TALS[x]from MertonAre you back alive? Prison? Bread and water? I have often thought much about you and prayedYes [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
 1968/07/08 TLSto MertonThank you for your letters and your suggestions. You have been much with me both in thoughtsYes  
 1968/07/11 (#01)TL[c]from MertonThe best way to reply to your letter is to enclose the letter I received from Sr. Benedicta.Yes  
 1968/07/11 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonThe best way to reply to your letter is to enclose the letter I received from Sr. Benedicta.Yes [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2 - contains photocopy of photo that Merton sent of his hermitage and notes "This is my place in winter"]
 1968/07/16 TLSto MertonThe last Saturday evening " happening" was a meeting with a group of 30 hippies-gypsies type people.Yes  
 1968/07/20 (#01)TL[c]from MertonIt does not surprise me that Jones seems about to sell his land on the shore. I got that impressionYes  
 1968/07/20 (#02)TLS[x]from MertonIt does not surprise me that Jones seems about to sell his land on the shore. I got that impressionYes [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
 1968/07/22 TLS[x]from MertonThis is just to say that my constantly changing plans have changed again. I have another importantYes [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
 1968/08/01 HLSto MertonTo receive God through "meditation," silent expectation and "kenosis," don't we have this in commonYes  
 1968/08/05 TL[c]from MertonWishing you all luck at Monroe-- whenever it is. Will you tell Sr. Benedicta that if she wantsYes  
 1968/08/28 TALSto MertonLast Sunday, Mike the guitarist-- do you remember the tape we listened to last May--, played in theYes  
 1968/09/07 TLS[x]from MertonSince Dom Leclercq was coming here this weekend, I waited to answer your letter. I asked him whereYes [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
 1968/09/20 HLS[x]from MertonGuess where I am now. Alaska! I am doing a little work which - I hope - will earn me someYes  
 1968/10/14 HLS[x]from MertonThanks for the lovely and fruitful days at Redwoods. We arrived here safely and I am planningYes  
 1968/10/29 transcriptfrom MertonIndia has been so far a most rewarding experience -- and disconcerting also. Great povertyYes [from New Delhi - copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
 1968/11/07 HLS[x]from MertonI am finishing what is more or less a week's retreat in the Himalayas -- in a cottage downYes [from Dharamsala]
 undated/no/no HNS[x]from MertonWhen you have finished with this carbon copy please send it and the original to Bro Patrick to be  [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
        

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