The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Winandy, Jacques, Dom, O.S.B., 1907-2002

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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

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

SeriesDateTypeTo/FromFirst LinesPubFull TextNotes
 1954/01/08 HLSto MertonJe vous remercie cordialement de l'aimable   
 1955/06/24 TALSto MertonDom 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
 1965/05/15 (#01)TLSto MertonVos trois études miméographiées me sont parvenues alors que je me préparais à partir pour New   
 1965/05/15 (#02)TL[c]to MertonREPORT (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]
 1965/08/30 (#01)TALSfrom MertonIt was a joy to receive your letter some time ago, and I am sorry that at that time it was alreadyYes  
 1965/08/30 (#02)TL[c]from MertonIt was a joy to receive your letter some time ago, and I am sorry that at that time it was alreadyYes  
 1965/09/07 TALSto MertonJ'ai reçu avec joie votre lettre du 30 août, et bien qu'elle soit une réponse, je veux vous écrire   
 1965/09/21 (#01)TLSfrom MertonThanks for your very good letter and for your observations which are to me precious asYes  
 1965/09/21 (#02)TL[c]from MertonThanks for your very good letter and for your observations which are to me precious asYes  
 1965/10/07 HLSto MertonLe temps m'a manqué pour confier à Dom Leclercq   
 1965/10/15 (#01)HLSto MertonCe simple mot pour vous remercier   
 1965/10/15 (#02)otherto MertonBishop 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]
 1965/11/13 (#01)TLSfrom MertonA happy feast to you and your brethren on this day sacred to the memory of so many BenedictineYes  
 1965/11/13 (#02)TL[c]from MertonA happy feast to you and your brethren on this day sacred to the memory of so many BenedictineYes  
 1966/01/18 HLSfrom MertonMerci de votre bonne lettre du 3 janvier et de vos   
 1966/03/23 TLSto MertonVous ne sauriez croire avec quel plaisir j'ai lu votre étude "The Spiritual Father in the Desert   
 1966/04/11 HLSto MertonLe P. Luke Kent, de Piffard,   
 1966/04/28 HLSto MertonJe ne vous lu pas encore remercié de l'aimable   
 1967/01/12 TALSto MertonJe viens de lire votre bel article de "Monastic Studies", "Monastic Vocation and Modern Thought",   
 1967/01/24 (#01)TLSfrom MertonIt is always a pleasure to hear from you. I am glad you liked the article in Monastic Studies.   
 1967/01/24 (#02)TL[c]from MertonIt is always a pleasure to hear from you. I am glad you liked the article in Monastic Studies.   
 1967/08/07 TALSto MertonJe viens d'avoir la visite de Miss Judy Blanchard, que vous connaissez bien, je crois.   
 1967/08/19 (#01)TLSfrom MertonThanks very much for your letter. And thanks for giving your consideration to the needs of JudyYes  
 1967/08/19 (#02)TL[c]from MertonThanks very much for your letter. And thanks for giving your consideration to the needs of JudyYes  
 1968/02/27 HLSto MertonI have handed to one of our Brothers, here, some of your mimeographed studies, and he is so   
 1968/03/12 (#01)TLSfrom MertonI am sorry for my delay in replying about the mimeographs which your hermit is requesting.   
 1968/03/12 (#02)TL[c]from MertonI am sorry for my delay in replying about the mimeographs which your hermit is requesting.   
 1968/09/08 TALSfrom MertonThanks for your letter: I am always glad to hear from you. But I am sorry to hear of troublesYes  
 1968/10/11 TLSfrom MertonItis [sic] a pity that I was not able to see you and I very much regret it. But I am sure we willYes  
 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]
        

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