The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
James, Bruno Scott, Msgr., 1906-1984

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1949-1966

Volume: 16 item(s); 28 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Biography

Fr. Bruno Scott James (later Monsignor) was a Catholic priest from England who asked Merton's help in putting together a book of translations of The Letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Inspired by a book by Morris West about Don Mario Borelli in the slums of Naples, James moves to Naples in the early sixties to found John Henry Newman College, which served as a residence for students at the University of Naples. After writing other books on Bernard of Clairvaux and on prayer, James wrote an autobiography entitled Asking for Trouble in 1962.

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Related Information and Links

See also one published letter from Merton to James in The School of Charity, pp. 137-138; and see also the Bruno Scott James Papers at Georgetown University ‹http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/cl135.htm›.

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
 1949/08/23 TALSto MertonI hate to break your solitude and peace with a letter, especially as I am sure you are getting   
 1949/09/29 TALSto MertonUnder normal circumstances I should feel very diffident at writing so often to one buried with   
 1953/09/14 HPCSto MertonGreetings. I have just met Dom James Fox, and took the opportunity of telling him what enormous  [verso: black and white photograph of the interior of the church at the Abbey of Fontenay in France]
 1960/09/18 TALSto MertonYour kind message has arrived by that good man Eugene Exman of Harpers Brothers and it fell upon   
 1960/10/01 TAL[c]from MertonIt was awfully good to get your letter, and Eugene Exman sent me your news to him about the tripYes  
 1960/10/05 TALSto MertonPerhaps because we are so close (I do not know) but I did feel from your letter that you were   
 1962/12/08 TLSto MertonYou will see from our address that we have done it! We have rented from the Jesuits a wonderful   
 1962/12/14 TLSto MertonYou cannot imagine the joy your book has given me. It has come from you and ofr [sic] that reason   
 1963/01/16 TALSto MertonI am venturing to disturb your solitude with a letter to which I would like an answer, on which   
 1963/01/26 TL[c]from MertonThank you for, I think, three letters that are waiting for answers. I can at least try to get a few   
 1965/03/10 TALSto MertonIt is a long time since I last wrote to you. Now I am writing with some news that you may find   
 1965/03/21 TL[c]from MertonThanks for your letter. It was good to hear from you after a long time. I am afraid that I am   
 1965/03/27 HLSto MertonIf you succeed in restoring the eremitic life you will have achieved enough for a life-time.   
 1966/11/01 TALSto MertonI have just been reading an article written on you in the Italian monthly "Humanitas". The article   
 1966/11/08 TL[c]from MertonThanks for your letter which, as always, is interesting and challenging at the same time.   
 undated/no/no HLS[x] This is quite fascinating but for heaven's sake do not let it be published …. It is the unconscious  [original of the incomplete letter from Bruno S. James in the Peter Geist correspondence file - it addresses Merton in the third person and discusses an unnamed Merton book - it is possible it discusses <i>The Sign of Jonas</i> and was mixed into the pages Merton sends Geist in this file - James was positive of the book in his book review but expresses reservations in this letter / Geist file also has pages from <i>Thoughts in Solitude</i>]
        

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