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Merton's Correspondence with:

Dom Jacques Winandy

Winandy, Jacques, Dom, O.S.B., 1907-2002  printer

Dom Jacques Winandy, Bishop Remi Joseph De Roo, and the Hermits of St. John the Baptist.  
Dom Jacques Winandy, Bishop Remi Joseph De Roo, and the Hermits of St. John the Baptist. 

Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence
Dates of materials: 1954-2003, bulk 1954-1968
Volume: 30 item(s); 47 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Merton had been long interested in obtaining more solitude and living as a hermit, so news of Dom Winandy's experimental band of hermits was exciting news. Merton saw such experimental and independent new communities as the future for revival of monasticism through rediscovery of such traditions as the eremitical life.

Biography

Dom Jacques Winandy was born in Liege, Belgium, in the early 20th century and became a Benedictine monk Clervaux Abbey in Luxemburg. This was a compromise for him. His father wanted him to enter a Benedictine abbey closer to home rather than follow his dreams of becoming a Carthusian. Carthusians are a monastic order living in community but spending most of the day, besides Mass and two of offices of prayer, in solitude in one's cell. During World War II, the monks of Clervaux lived in exile in religious houses in Belgium. Winandy was excepted as a Carthusian during this time; however, he was elected as abbot of Clervaux immediately after the war, a role he reluctantly accepted. He served as abbot until 1957. He spent time as a hermit before, after a year in Rome, being sent to the Benedictine abbey in Martinique. There he met Br. (now Fr.) Lionel Pare. Pare shared Winandy's interest in the eremitical life. They obtained permission to start of group of hermits, living individually but under the direction of an elder in 1964. They found an amenable bishop, Bishop Remi De Roo and the space for solitude on the Tsolum River in British Columbia, Canada, near Merville. Winandy remained in a hermitage in British Columbia until 1972, when he returned to a hermitage in Belgium, not far from Clervaux Abbey. He spent the next twenty-five years of his life there before his last six months at Clervaux while infirm. Winandy's eremitical life had a profound impact on a revival of the vocation of the hermit in the Catholic Church. (Source: Brandt, M. Charles. "A monk of the Diaspora." The New Catholic Times: 5 Jan 2003.)

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Please click here for general restrictions concerning Merton's correspondence.

Related Information and Links

See also the "De Roo, Remi Joseph" file; and see also published letters from Merton to Winandy in The School of Charity, pp. 289-290, 293-296, 343, 397 and 403-404.

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.
    31941

Series List

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

Container List

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#DateFrom/ToFirst LinesPub ✓Notes
 y/m/dMerton Scan ✉ 
1. 1954/01/08 HLS to Merton Je vous remercie cordialement de l'aimable «detailed view»
2. 1955/06/24 TALS to Merton Dom Jean Leclercq me dit qur vous-même et votre P. ABBé seriez désireux d'avoir quelques détails describes to Merton the hermit's life of Fr. Augustin Bernth of Belgium «detailed view»
3. 1965/05/15 (#01) TLS to Merton Vos trois études miméographiées me sont parvenues alors que je me préparais à partir pour New «detailed view»
4. 1965/05/15 (#02) TL[c] to Merton REPORT (to the Bishop) on the Hermits of St John the Baptist [-] Your Excellency, During the last [originally addressing a bishop, forwarded to Merton on the date listed for this letter] «detailed view»
5. 1965/08/30 (#01) TALS from Merton It was a joy to receive your letter some time ago, and I am sorry that at that time it was already «detailed view»
6. 1965/08/30 (#02) TL[c] from Merton It was a joy to receive your letter some time ago, and I am sorry that at that time it was already «detailed view»
7. 1965/09/07 TALS to Merton J'ai reçu avec joie votre lettre du 30 août, et bien qu'elle soit une réponse, je veux vous écrire «detailed view»
8. 1965/09/21 (#01) TLS from Merton Thanks for your very good letter and for your observations which are to me precious as «detailed view»
9. 1965/09/21 (#02) TL[c] from Merton Thanks for your very good letter and for your observations which are to me precious as «detailed view»
10. 1965/10/07 HLS to Merton Le temps m'a manqué pour confier à Dom Leclercq «detailed view»
11. 1965/10/15 (#01) HLS to Merton Ce simple mot pour vous remercier «detailed view»
12. 1965/10/15 (#02) other to Merton Bishop De Roo of Victoria in the midst of the Hermits of St. John the Baptist. June 24, 1965. [text on verso of black and white photograph of Winandy and the Hermits of St. John the Baptist in Courtenay, British Colombia, Canada] «detailed view»
13. 1965/11/13 (#01) TLS from Merton A happy feast to you and your brethren on this day sacred to the memory of so many Benedictine «detailed view»
14. 1965/11/13 (#02) TL[c] from Merton A happy feast to you and your brethren on this day sacred to the memory of so many Benedictine «detailed view»
15. 1966/01/18 HLS from Merton Merci de votre bonne lettre du 3 janvier et de vos «detailed view»
16. 1966/03/23 TLS to Merton Vous ne sauriez croire avec quel plaisir j'ai lu votre étude "The Spiritual Father in the Desert «detailed view»
17. 1966/04/11 HLS to Merton Le P. Luke Kent, de Piffard, «detailed view»
18. 1966/04/28 HLS to Merton Je ne vous lu pas encore remercié de l'aimable «detailed view»
19. 1967/01/12 TALS to Merton Je viens de lire votre bel article de "Monastic Studies", "Monastic Vocation and Modern Thought", «detailed view»
20. 1967/01/24 (#01) TLS from Merton It is always a pleasure to hear from you. I am glad you liked the article in Monastic Studies. «detailed view»
21. 1967/01/24 (#02) TL[c] from Merton It is always a pleasure to hear from you. I am glad you liked the article in Monastic Studies. «detailed view»
22. 1967/08/07 TALS to Merton Je viens d'avoir la visite de Miss Judy Blanchard, que vous connaissez bien, je crois. «detailed view»
23. 1967/08/19 (#01) TLS from Merton Thanks very much for your letter. And thanks for giving your consideration to the needs of Judy «detailed view»
24. 1967/08/19 (#02) TL[c] from Merton Thanks very much for your letter. And thanks for giving your consideration to the needs of Judy «detailed view»
25. 1968/02/27 HLS to Merton I have handed to one of our Brothers, here, some of your mimeographed studies, and he is so «detailed view»
26. 1968/03/12 (#01) TLS from Merton I am sorry for my delay in replying about the mimeographs which your hermit is requesting. «detailed view»
27. 1968/03/12 (#02) TL[c] from Merton I am sorry for my delay in replying about the mimeographs which your hermit is requesting. «detailed view»
28. 1968/09/08 TALS from Merton Thanks for your letter: I am always glad to hear from you. But I am sorry to hear of troubles «detailed view»
29. 1968/10/11 TLS from Merton Itis [sic] a pity that I was not able to see you and I very much regret it. But I am sure we will «detailed view»
30. 2003/01/05 other   Dom Jacques Winandy, O.S.B., A Monk in the Diaspora [-] Tres Reverend Pere Dom Jacques Winandy, [article on Dom Jacques Winandy by Fr. M. Charles Brandt, a hermit of Oyster River, British Columbia, Canada] «detailed view»

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