MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Bruyn, Marcella van, Dame, O.S.B.
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Descriptive Summary
Record Group: Section A - Correspondence
Dates of materials: 1963-1967
Volume: 25 item(s); 47 pg(s)
Scope and Content
Dame Marcella first contacted Merton through the encouragement of Jacques Maritain. Stanbrook Press published poems of Raïssa Maritain as well as some of Merton's works, including his translations of a prayer of Cassiodorus and a letter by Guigo the Carthusian.
Biography
Dame Marcella van Bruyn was a Benedictine nun of Stanbrook Abbey in England. Entering the community in her forties, she spent twenty-three years in community before leaving to pursue a life of solitude. (Source: The School of Charity, p. 160.)
Usage Guidelines and Restrictions
Related Information and Links
See published letters from Merton to van Bruyn in The School of Charity, pp. 160-161, 182-183, 190-191, 205-206, 249-250, 270-271, 284-285, 298-300, 302, and 311-312.
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
| Series | Date | Type | To/From | First Lines | Pub | Full Text | Notes |
| | 1960/05/31 | HLS | to Merton | Thank you for your letter and for the articles - I was most interested, especially in that one | |
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| | 1963/02/15 | TLS | to Merton | M. Jacques Maritain has told me that you are translating his wife's poems, and that you know I have | |
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| | 1963/02/23 | TL[c] | from Merton | Since Jacques Maritain told me of your project, I have been expecting your letter. Actually I think | Yes |
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| | 1963/07/18 | TALS | to Merton | I am writing by return, because you are anxious about Jacques Maritain, and so hasten to tell you | |
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| | 1963/09/08 | TALS | to Merton | Thank you very much for all those mimeographed things - I simply cannot tell you how grateful I am | |
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| | 1963/10/15 | TAL[c] | from Merton | The Feast of St Theresa is as good a day as any for a letter to Stanbrook, and I must confess | Yes |
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| | 1963/11/04 | TALS | to Merton | Raissa's anniversary, and the 8th will be my father's, when I hope you will say a prayer for him - | |
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| | 1964/01/02 | TAL[c] | from Merton | I see some time has gone by since your letter of November 4th and we are all now persuaded that we | Yes |
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| | 1964/01/25 | TALS | to Merton | I have a great deal to thank you for besides your letter - the mimeographed things, and the magazine | |
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| | 1964/02/24 (#01) | TL[c] | from Merton | This is chiefly to wish you many blessings and graces on March 12th and to say how much I liked | Yes |
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| | 1964/02/24 (#02) | TALS[x] | from Merton | This is chiefly to wish you many blessings and graces on March 12th and to say how much I liked | Yes |
| [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files - some pen/pencil marks] |
| | 1964/08/25 | TALS | to Merton | This was meant to arrive in time for your feast, but even if it took off instantly, by jet plane | |
| [Feast of St. Louis] |
| | 1964/09/14 | other | to Merton | I thought this would interest you, if you do not already know the book, which is one of the most | |
| [handwritten and signed note from van Bruyn - typed selections from <i>Venture to the Interior</i> by Laurens van der Post] |
| | 1964/10/29 | TAL[c] | from Merton | How many letters do I owe you? I blush to think of it. Please forgive me. (I have just been | Yes |
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| | 1965/02/12 | TALS | to Merton | I did not get round to writing to you for your fiftieth birthday, but I remembered it all right, | |
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| | 1965/03/28 | TL[c] | from Merton | Many thanks for your letter. I want to say that I said Mass for you and Stanbrook on the 12th | Yes |
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| | 1965/06/16 | TL[c] | from Merton | First, since you mention the prospectus at the top of your letter, I will say "yes" to the offer now | Yes |
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| | 1966/01/25 | TALS | to Merton | I have thought about you a great deal, but refrained from writing until your birthday, as I feel you | |
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| | 1966/02/01 | TL[c] | from Merton | Certainly I do not regard monastic letters as a distraction and I was glad to hear from you. | Yes |
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| | 1966/04/17 | HLS[x] | from Merton | At least I have the joy of reading your fine translations of Raissa, and the book itself is | Yes |
| [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files] |
| | 1966/06/08 | TALS | to Merton | At the risk of appearing again too soon, I write to know how you are. I was horrified to hear | |
| [sends photo of her in habit standing outside of Stanbrook Abbey] |
| | 1966/08/no? | TLS[x] | from Merton | [..] way. The hunters around here are wild shots. Lightning strikes trees all around the hermitage. | Yes |
| [copied from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files] |
| | 1966/09/03 | TALS | to Merton | Thank you for welcome and cheering letter, also for interesting autobiographical bit, though how you | |
| |
| | 1967/01/25 | TALS | to Merton | A very happy birthday to you - don't forget it is also my feast, and pray for me too. First of all, | |
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| | undated/no/no | other[x] | | He abideth patiently He forgiveth easily He understandeth mercifully He forgetteth utterly | |
| [Merton provided this text to Stanbrook Abbey Press and cited it was "From a fourteenth century manuscript" / Sr. Margaret Truran of Stanbrook notes, "The text is hand-set by the Stanbrook Abbey Press in Jan van Krimpen’s font 'Romulus Cancelleresca Bastarda', a trademark of the Press. The calligraphic capitals H and E are done by Margaret Adams."] |
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