The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Day, Dorothy, 1897-1980

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1956-1988, bulk 1956-1968

Volume: 72 item(s); 108 pg(s)

Scope and Content

This important collection of letters contains many original handwritten and signed letters by Day. Merton's letters are mostly carbon copies and photocopies of signed letters from Marquette University. The letters discuss issues of the Vietnam War, nuclear proliferation, the peace movement, foreign relations, poverty, and the faith experience of those concerned with social justice.

Biography

Social activist, author, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, Dorothy Day was a profound influence and mentor for Merton. Merton especially respected her commitment to non-violence and to the poor. A complex and dynamic figure, she espoused politically leftist views, while maintaining a traditional faith in Catholicism. (Source: The Hidden Ground of Love, pp. 135-136.)

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Related Information and Links

See also Cold War Letters #11 and #86, and other published letters from Merton to Day, in The Hidden Ground of Love, pp. 135-154; and see also an unabridged version of the 16 June 1962 letter published in Signs of Hope, pp. 43-6. A letter from Merton to Day of December 20, 1961 was included with two others in Motive magazine as "Three Letters" (the other two being letters to Eileen Curns ["Letter to a Papal Volunteer"] and to Paulo Alceu Amoroso Lima [To a Brazilian Friend"]) which were additionally published in Seeds of Destruction.

See also Dorothy Day's letters to Thomas Merton (with introduction, editing and summaries of selected Merton letters by William Shannon) published in American Catholic Pacifism : The Influence of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement, edited by Anne Klejment and Nancy L. Roberts (Prageger Publishers; Westport, Connecticut; 1996: pp. 99-121). Most of Day's letters to Merton were also included in All the Way to Heaven, edited by Robert Ellsberg.

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
 1956/12/26 TLSto ?Alice Catherine tells me that you have offered Christmas Mass for me and the Catholic Worker at theYes [possibly to Fr. Urban Snyder and not addressed to Merton - the name of the addressee is scratched out on both the letter and the envelope / found in Gethsemani Archives] Christmas at the Catholic Worker - beautiful but sober and serious - past times when "the entire kitchen force got drunk"
 1959/04/22 TLS[x]from MertonPeople have been sending the novices here some things we do not use or need, like scented soap,  [donated to Marquette University June 2018]
 1959/06/04? TACSto MertonWhat with jail and a sudden attack of arthritis, I neglected to write to thank you both for yourYes [verso: "Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian" / written on the Feast of the Sacred Heart] Charles Butterworth, a Catholic Worker staff member, sentenced in Federal Court for harboring and aiding the escape of a deserter - Bob Steed may also appear in Federal Court for tearing his draft card / Charles de Foucauld retreat
 1959/06/20 TACSto MertonI enclose a letter to cheer your heart and to keep you writing. Your books are regarded asYes [verso: "Prayer of Abandonment (Brother Charles of Jesus)"] Caroline Gordon spent royalties of her book to buy Merton's books for others
 1959/07/09 TLS[x]from MertonIt was a pleasure to get your letter, and of course I keep praying for you and for CW.Yes  
 1959/07/09 (#02)transcriptfrom MertonAgain, I am touched deeply by your witness for peace. You are very very right in going at it alongYes [transcript of partial letter - contains as 1959/July/09 - Jim Forest gave this to Nazareth College]
 1959/12/23 (#01)HCSto MertonYour beautiful book containing the beautiful news arrived and Bob Steed had a hard time restrainingYes [verso: printed woodcut of Mary and the baby Jesus / published letter begins at last line of first paragraph and continues through next paragraph, Day adds, "Have you a volume of Cassian? I have an extra one if you want it."]
 1959/12/23 (#02)HCSto MertonI forgot to mail the enclosed written on the ferryboat to Staten Island. Hope you can decipher it.  [verso: Christmas card with Mary and the baby Jesus]
 1960/01/22 TLSto MertonYour beautiful and profound essay on Pasternak kept me awake from midnight until four this morning,Yes Pasternak essay / trip west and visit to Indians - visits to the Hutterites and Doukhobors / Ann Fremantle's <i>Desert Calling</i> / Day a "postulant in the Jesus Caritas Fraternity of the Charles de Foucault family"
 1960/02/04 TLS[x]from MertonFor a long time I have wanted to write to you and give you something that could be publishedYes  
 1960/06/04 HLSto MertonHow grateful we are to you for your poem. Bob Steed, who makes up the CW., and who was at  Bob Steed, formerly at Gethsemani Abbey, and admirer of Merton / Merton's article on Pasternak in <u>Thought</u> / Hugh Madden / account of a family suffering through many difficulties and staying at the beach houses where day recovers from an illness / Day's daughter Tamar / Dostoevsky as "spiritual reading"
 1960/08/17 TALS[x]from MertonYour good letter of June 5th has been waiting for a reply and before that the Cassian came,Yes  
 1960/10/10 TLSto MertonIt was good to get your book, and I do thank you for having it sent to me. I had read the PasternakYes "The Pasternak Affair" from <u>Thought</u> / Bob Steed and another person formerly of Gethsemani at Catholic Worker, John Stanley / Ammon Hennacy - fasting and natural cures instead of medicine / need for obedience amidst the attitude of rebellion at Catholic Worker
 1961/07/23 TALS[x]from MertonThanks for your good note of a month ago and the enclosed letter from the boy in California, and allYes  
 1961/08/15 TLSto MertonI am terribly sorry about the poem. It was snatched from my hands so fast, and before I knew it, itYes apology for mistakenly publishing a poem given by Merton to Day in <u>Catholic Worker</u> - was not for publication / Jim Forest - bicycle tour of New England while discerning vocation / Day's son-in-law sent to mental hospital - Tamar left to care for 9 children and farm / nuclear war / Julian of Norwich
 1961/08/23 TALS[x]from MertonDon't worry about the poem: it worked out fine. Ferlinghetti is going to print it anyway, and isYes  
 1961/09/22 TALS[x]from MertonJust a quick note. The attached article IS for Catholic Worker and it IS censoredYes [Merton enclosed the essay of "The Root of War" with this letter, which was then passed to James Forest for editing and publication in the <u>Catholic Worker</u> - see Sub-Section E.1 for this copy of the essay]
 1961/12/20 (#01)TAL[x]from MertonI have read your latest "On Pilgrimage" in the December CW and I want to say how good I think it is.Yes [Cold War Letter #11 - photocopy signature line cut off] defense of Fidel Castro as a human being, not a defense of all crimes Communism has committed in the world / separate people from their action and actions committed by their group - personal love versus natural law or casuistry / natural law as "jungle law"
 1961/12/20 (#02)transcriptfrom MertonI have read your latest "On Pilgrimage" in the December CW and I want to say how good I think it is.Yes [Cold War Letter #11 from bound collection of Cold War Letters] defense of Fidel Castro as a human being, not a defense of all crimes Communism has committed in the world / separate people from their action and actions committed by their group - personal love versus natural law or casuistry / natural law as "jungle law"
 1961/12/22 HPCS[x]from MertonHave you seen the <u>magnificent</u> essay by Rabbi Samuel Dresner included in the book "God   
 1962/03/21 TALS[x]from MertonAs I don't know who is handling the paper now, I am addressing these changes to you. They are to goYes  
 1962/04/09 TLS[x]from MertonMany thanks for your letter. There were certainly a lot of things I needed to know. And I am gladYes  
 1962/06/04 TALSto MertonI am writing to beg prayer from you and your novices for Deane Mowrer, one of our editors who isYes eye surgery for Deane Mowrer / Elbert Sisson - Merton's writing on peace and opposition to modern war - not pacifist view / visit to Brazil and Papal Volunteers / Day's book <i>The Long Loneliness</i> translated into Portuguese by Aimee Amorosa Lima / denies Merton's association of the Catholic Worker with the Beat movement
 1962/06/16 (#01)TLS[x]from MertonI have just come from saying Mass for the intentions of Catholic Worker, especially all yoursYes [Cold War Letters #86 - abridged versions in Cold War Letters and The Hidden Ground of Love with full version published in Signs of Hope]
 1962/06/16 (#02)transcriptfrom MertonIt is true that I am not theoretically a pacifist. That only means that I do not hold that aYes [Cold War Letters #86 - from bound/mimeographed copy] view not totally pacifist - describes that the idea of a "just war" in the modern age is "pure theory" and no current conflicts would be considered just / on Fr. John Hugo's "'natural-supernatural' division" / Day's trip to Brazil - Aimee Amoroso Lima
 1962/06/16 (#03)transcriptfrom MertonIt is true that I am not theoretically a pacifist. That only means that I do not hold that aYes [Cold War Letters #86 - from published volume - differs from other copy] <i>Peace in the Post-Christian Era</i> / fallout shelter for monks and Blessed Sacrament at Genesee Abbey in New York - "What a grim joke that is!"
 1962/07/12 TLS[x]from MertonThe poem about the Ladies Jail has finally, after five months, been passed by the censorsYes  
 1962/07/23 HLSto MertonThank you for your good letter and above all for the prayers, "spiritual direction" and papers aboutYes [verso: a modern, urban picture of a nativity scene and a quote from Teresa of Avila] Merton's prayer about the English Mystics / Deane Mowrer / Day's attempt to get a visa to travel to Cuba to visit collective farms, view the education system and see the what has happened with religion
 1962/08/11 (#01)TLS[x]from MertonYou might be interested in the copy of the letter I sent to Hiroshima. A couple of extras in caseYes  
 1962/08/11? (#02)HNS[x]from MertonI have been praying for you all the while and for Cuba also. This is a crucial, stupid, and tragic  [handwritten note on the first page of a typescript for "Ten Poems of Alfonso Cortes" - photocopy of the title page with note only]
 1962/08/23 TALSto MertonDo not fear, your material will get to Brazil, because I am surely going in April with HildegardYes Jean and Hildegard Goss Mayr - trip to Brazil to speak of Christian non-violence in South America / granted visa for Cuba - trip in September - U.S. sabotage of Cuban buildings and fields - danger of being shot by a counter-revolutionary / the group Pax and Jim Forest / Bob Steed and walking trip to Rome for Papal appeal
 1962/11/12 HLSto MertonThis morning one of the two lovely young girls who share the women's apartment with 2 old ladies ofYes young girls from the women's apartment - their involvement in a peace march and sense of love and joy, but Day's concern about the drug addicts and sexually promiscuous friends they have - the many who are pregnant and those who had considered abortions / her return from Cuba and Mexico
 1963/03/04 TL[c]from Goss-Mayr, HildegardWe have read with great interest your articles on Cuba, and we are glad to notice how many contacts  [see "Goss-Mayr, Hildegard" file for original copy - letter of 1963/02/27 from Hildegard Goss-Mayr to Dorothy Day - carbon copy enclosed with 1963/03/04 letter to Merton]
 1963/03/17 TLSto MertonI had the best of intentions to write to you before Ash Wednesday but at least you will have thisYes Merton's "Selections from the Desert Fathers" / the many new women in Catholic Worker who are married outside of the Church / Day's friends who worry Merton will leave the monastery / trip to Rome with "Women Strike for Peace" and "who are foolishly expecting to get a[ Papal] audience" - Pope's good words on peace
 1963/06/18 (#01)TLS[x] from Merton to Edward R. SammisThank you for sending me the proofs of Dorothy Day's LOAVES AND FISHES, which I have read with   
 1963/06/18? (#02)other A LETTER FROM THOMAS MERTON [-] "Every American Christian should read Dorothy Day's LOAVES  [appears to be photocopy from the back of the 1963 first edition of Dorothy Day's book <i>Loaves and Fishes</i>]
 1963/09/05 TLS[x]from MertonThe other day a packet of mimeographed articles emanating from here went out to you. I hope youYes  
 1963/12/04 TAL[c]from MertonFr Charles passed your letter along from the hospital, and I write immediately to say that you willYes Fr. Charles [English?] / deaths of President John F. Kennedy, Aldous Huxley, and Fr. Lafarge
 1963/12/no? HLSto MertonThank you for your good letter. After I heard Fr. Charles was recovering I gave up the idea of  [no date / seems to be after Merton's 1963/12/04 letter]
 1965/06/24 TALSto MertonYesterday Dr. Stern telephoned me from Montreal asking me to ask the Trappists, and my friends theYes reading <i>Prison Meditations of Fr. Delp</i> with Merton's introductions at retreat / the great costs of burying the poor - harassment by undertakers / troubles with young people on peace marches taking drugs and living promiscuously / Day's only daughter, Tamar, enrolling in a course in practical nursing to support 9 children
 1965/07/16 HLS[x]from MertonI was very glad indeed to get your letter. It came at a good time, I had just been readingYes  
 1965/08/11 HLSto MertonYour letter and manuscripts came while Karl Stern was staying with us and he was so happy to get  success of Pax weekend - Jim Douglass and Day to go to Rome to confront bishops directly - the good work of Douglass and Jim Forest / Tom Cornell's critically ill wife / Eileen Egan / Pax group getting new members who are older and more conservative
 1965/10/06 HLS[x]to Mertonso good you wrote, but I am not connected in any way with Women Strike for Peace!!!! Write later  [see "Forcellino, Claude" for original - notes from l'Arche community members - Chanterelle del Vasto, Dorothy Day, Claude Forcellino, Lise Caillon, Edith Maximoff, Mayse Chenevey, Louisette Caramelli, Marcella Bernadat, Nicole Uhl, Matilde Seghezzo, Christiane Pons, Lea Provo, Erika Mitterer, Marianne Platz]
 1965/11/11 (#01)HN[x]from MertonJust heard tragic death of Roger Laport [sic] am deeply shocked and concerned about current  [handwritten note from verso of 1965/08/24 letter from Howard B. Gotlieb to be sent as telegram to Dorothy Day and Jim Forest] suicide (self-immolation) of Roger Laporte - does not represent to Merton the proper understanding of non-violence
 1965/11/11 (#02)telegramfrom MertonJust heard tragic death of Roger Laport [sic] am deeply shocked and concerned about current  [typed version of handwritten note 1965/11/11[1] above] suicide (self-immolation) of Roger Laporte - does not represent to Merton the proper understanding of non-violence
 1965/11/15 HLSto MertonExcuse me for writing your name wrong on the envelope. We are so full of distractions these days.Yes support for those burning draft cards / Roger Laporte had only been at Catholic Worker a few days - if other young people had known about his plans for suicide, they would have interceded - hoping others are not holding them responsible / accidental bombing of friendly villagers and Napalming of our troops in Vietnam
 1965/11/22 TL[c]from MertonThis is just a note to thank you for your warm, wise letter. You are well experienced in this kindYes apology for "ill considered and immediate reaction to the sad news of Roger Laporte" - as hermit, not in touch with these issues / told by superiors not to write on peace movement - Merton feels not well enough informed - against card burning - his role as prayer - Jim Douglass and John Heidbrink see this as betrayal
 1965/12/02 TALSto MertonI hasten to write you thank you from my heart for your most reassuring letter and to tell you that IYes defense of stand supporting draft card burners / criticism of Fr. Daniel Berrigan - his writing has done much good, but because of his youth and inexperience, South American exile might do him well / Jim Douglass's recent speech in Pittsburgh / a woman formerly into drugs found Merton's books and is now on a good course
 1965/12/20 (#01)TL[c]from MertonThanks for your very good letter. I reached what I thought would be a fair solution with the CPF:Yes [annotated carbon copy sent either 1965/12/20 or 1965/12/29] agreed to remain sponsor for Catholic Peace Fellowship (CPF) with the understanding that he approved of ministry to conscientious objectors and did not condone every political statement / Dan Berrigan - paradox of good from obeying bad decisions by Superiors
 1965/12/20 (#02)otherfrom MertonYou might like this "saying" of St. Bridget of Kildare: it would make a nice insert to fill in   
 1965/12/29 TL[c]from MertonJust a note to thank you for your very good and very encouraging card, and to reassure you about myYes describes how important reading <u>The Catholic Worker</u> has been for him / November issue made him understand more fully burning of draft cards - can understand the draft law itself but not the law against destroying the card / "If there were no Catholic Worker [...], I would never have joined the Catholic Church."
 1966/09/12 TLS[x]from MertonI have not sent you anything for the CW for quite a long time, and I have been meaning to.Yes  
 1966/10/28 HNS[x]from MertonTom Cornell said you would be using the Camus article in the October CW. I have not seen this yet   
 1967/01/29 TACSto MertonDo please forgive my long silence-- I do not remember if I ever thanked you for your wonderfulYes [verso: St. Benedict woodcut and quote "That in All Things God May Be Glorified"] praise for Merton's Camus article and for <i>Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander</i> / <u>Catholic Worker</u> issue - criticism of Cardinal Spellman's stand in favor of the Vietnam War but the shared guilt of many Catholics
 1967/02/09 TLS[x]from MertonThanks so much for your good note of Jan. 29th. I have read your piece in the latest CW on CardinalYes  
 1967/07/no? HLSto MertonThis suffering soul asked me to forward this to you. She is an old friend, by letter, and has lived  [undated but William Shannon places this letter July-August 1967 based on Merton's 1967/August/18 response] Pax meeting with Gordon Zahn / visit by Karl Stern / Romano Guardini's <i>Last Things</i>
 1967/08/18 TL[c]from MertonI have finally managed to write a brief letter in reply to Louise Gosho. I am sure she understandsYes Merton's article on Auschwitz sent to Marty Corbin for <u>Catholic Worker</u> / Jim McMurry leaving the hermit's life - the trials of living as a hermit / seven day fast in Geneva
 1967/09/13 TALSto MertonPlease excuse me for my delay in answering your most welcome letter. I read the article you sent onYes Merton's article on Auschwitz - Germans soon forget as do Americans / Day attending Lay Congress in Rome / visit by Jack English - one good of Cardinal Spellman is that he harbors priests in difficulty / problem with a widow her took in a violent drug addict
 1967/09/19 TL[c]from MertonI have written giving your name to Pasteur Jean Lasserre, of the IFOR, 42, Cours Fr Roosevelt, Lyon,Yes more information about the Geneva ecumenical fast for peace in December from Pasteur Jean Lasserre from the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) - Lanza del Vasto / Merton's thought of going to Gethsemani's new foundation in Chile, a country without "the bomb" / death of Ad Reinhardt / Jack English
 1967/09/28 TLto MertonThank you for your very prompt answer about the fast. I will be home before it begins, I see.Yes the Little Brothers of Jesus "know how to do nothing" - brought peace in Detroit between young peace group and older Catholic Workers
 1967/12/20 HLS[x]from MertonA joyful and peaceful Christmas, with much love to all of you at CW. The cover of the December CW   
 1968/07/25 TLS[x]from MertonHere is the address of Mark Lillis. It is quite touching that you have all those familiesYes  
 1968/08/19 HCSto MertonWe have just listened to your poems, set to music by Alexander Peloquin. There were four of your 8  [verso: "Mysticism and Ecumenism" by Robley Edward Whitson] Day's reaction to hearing performance of "Four Freedom Songs" of Merton's set to music by Alexander Peloquin - Martin Luther King's sister in the choir - "enough to break down the walls of Jericho" / Merton's article for the Pax group
 1981/11/09 TLS[x]from Shannon, WilliamI enclose an original "Shannon" which you may auction off for the benefit of your drive!   
 1983/04/22 TLS[x] from Shannon, William / to Philip RunkelDr. Daggy from the Merton Center in Louisville informed me that at a recent meeting he had talked  [from William H. Shannon, editor of <i>The Hidden Ground of Love</i> to Philip M. Runkel, archivist at Marquette University]
 1983/04/26 TLS from Runkel, Philip / to William ShannonGreetings from Marquette. In response to your letter of April 22, I regret to inform you that  [list of the dates of Merton's letters to Day in the Marquette collection]
 1983/04/29 TLS[x] from Shannon, William / to Philip RunkelI am most grateful for your prompt response to my letter. Would that all the people I have written   
 1983/05/10 TLS from Runkel, Philip / to William ShannonGreetings from the Archives. I am enclosing copies of the requested letters from Thomas Merton   
 1983/05/18 TLS[x] from Shannon, William / to Philip RunkelI was delighted to receive the Dorothy Day letters that you duplicated for me. They are splendid   
 1983/06/16 HLS from Mauk, Daniel / to William ShannonI trust that by now you've heard from Phil Runkel, our archivist at Marquette University, concerning  [from Daniel Mauk of the Catholic Worker to William Shannon]
 1987/08/17 other CORRESPONDENCE: THOMAS MERTON and DOROTHY DAY 8/17/87  [William Shannon's list of correspondence between Merton and Day]
 1988/06/28 TLS[x] from Shannon, William / to Anne KlejmentI just returned from Louisville and Gethsemani and a retreat in the woods - in 100 degree Kentucky  [from William Shannon to Anne Klejment of the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota]
        

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