The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Graham, Aelred, Dom, O.S.B., 1907-1984

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1953-1983, bulk 1953-1968

Volume: 48 item(s); 77 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Aelred Graham wrote one of the first negative reviews of Merton's work in 1953. Merton kept in touch with Graham and later wrote praise for Graham's book Zen Catholicism. On a visit to Gethsemani, Graham lectured Merton's novices on Zen, a recording of which is in the audio archives of the Merton Center. (Source: The School of Charity, p. 48.)

Biography

Dom Aelred Graham was a Benedictine monk from Ampleforth Abbey in England. From 1951-1967, he served as superior of the Portsmouth Priory in Rhode Island. All letters by Graham are addressed from Portsmouth, Rhode Island, except the 1968 letters and others as noted. (Source: obituary of Fr. Aelred Graham from the Ampleforth Abbey Library by Fr. Patrick Barry, O.S.B.)

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Related Information and Links

See also published letters from Merton to Graham in The School of Charity, pp. 48-49, 167, 181-182, 187-188,

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

Series NumberSeries NameTotal Records
1 Correspondence between Merton and Dom Aelred Graham. 30
2 Correspondence from Dom Aelred and Fr. Louis file kept by Dom James Fox (added Aug. 2014) 7
3 Articles and Statements from Dom Aelred and Fr. Louis file kept by Dom James Fox (added Aug. 2014) 11

Container List

SeriesDateTypeTo/FromFirst LinesPubFull TextNotes
11953/01/15 transcriptfrom MertonThis is just a note to thank you for the article you wrote about me in the <i>Atlantic</i>.Yes [transferred from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
11953/02/05 HLS[x] from Graham, Aelred / to Robert GirouxMany thanks for "The Sign of Jonas" which I am reading through with interest. It seems to confirm   
11953/02/14 TLS[x]to MertonHaving just finished reading your "SIGN OF JONAS" (in my view by far the most attractive of all your  [see Section 2 for original]
11953/03/03 TLS[x]to Fox, JamesA letter from a mutual friend of ours -- William J. McCormack, Jr., an alumnus of Portsmouth Priory  [see Series 2 for orignal letter]
11963/04/17 HLSto MertonYour very kind and heartening message has just reached me. Only the other day I was reading   
11963/04/24 TALS[x]from MertonAs a matter of fact I went ahead and wrote a review. I liked the book so much and found so muchYes [transferred from Sub-Section H.7, Hart Working Files, Accession 2]
11963/04/26 TLSto MertonWhat a magnanimous person you are! Thank you indeed for your letter, with its stream of intuitions,   
11963/08/24 TLSto MertonThank you for your kind letter of August 21. Seeing that he is so warmly commended by you I shall   
11963/09/10 TAL[c]from MertonThanks for your very good letter. I do not know whether Fr John of the Cross will get there,Yes  
11963/10/03 TLSto MertonAs I have just written to Father Thurston N. Davis, S.J. of AMERICA, from time to time we bring out   
11963/11/15 TALSto MertonYour kind letter of November 1st with its enclosures has only just now arrived. I am sorry indeed   
11963/11/19 TAL[c]from MertonFather Abbot showed me your recent letter concerning Father John of the Cross, and asked if I would   
11963/12/02 TLSto MertonI have written today at some length to your Father Abbot, Dom James, about Father John of the Cross   
11963/12/04 TL[c]from MertonIt is already a long time since your letter of November 15, which took a little time to reach me.   
11963/12/07 TALSto MertonI have your kind letter of December 4 which seems to have crossed with my recent one to you.   
11963/12/16 TAL[c]from MertonJust a brief answer to your letter, and to assure you that I quite understand the situationYes  
11964/03/10 HLSto MertonWhat a memorable - and how happy an - experience it was meeting and talking with you.  [stationery from Saint Louis Priory in Missouri]
11964/05/14 TAL[c]from MertonI still have here your note from St Louis, and I had been meaning to answer and say that certainly   
11964/05/20 (#01)TLSto MertonIt was very good to have your most welcome letter of May 14th. Thank you indeed for it   
11964/05/20 (#02)other A new crusade in the offing? [-] By Dom Aelred Graham [-] By his recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land   
11968/07/12 TALSto MertonIt is much too long since we were last in touch with one another. But now here I am, in quasi  [letter care of Elsie Mitchell-- Graham was spending the summer at the house of Elsie and John Mitchell of Cataumet, Massachusetts (see the "Mitchell, Elsie" file in the correspondence)]
11968/07/15 TL[c]from MertonYour fine letter was a pleasant surprise-- and just what I needed. the lines you sketch out are   
11968/07/no TALSto MertonI hope I "intuit" correctly in thinking that you may prefer this mode of address. By all means  [letter care of Elsie Mitchell-- Graham was spending the summer at the house of Elsie and John Mitchell of Cataumet, Massachusetts (see the "Mitchell, Elsie" file in the correspondence)]
11968/08/03 (#01)TLS[x]from MertonYes, personally I prefer first names. It is so much simpler. And I do value very highly yourYes  
11968/08/03 (#02)TL[c]from MertonYes, personally I prefer first names. It is so much simpler. And I do value very highly yourYes  
11968/08/05 TALSto MertonMany thanks for yours of the 3rd. Mails seem to be agreeably speedy at the moment! Elsie and I  [seemingly misdated as 1967/August/05 - written care of Elsie Mitchell-- Graham was spending the summer at the house of Elsie and John Mitchell of Cataumet, Massachusetts (see the "Mitchell, Elsie" file in the correspondence)]
11968/08/13 TL[c]from MertonMy plans are now shaping up, and it does seem more likely that I can stretch things out so as to get   
11968/08/29 TLS[x]from MertonMany, many thanks for your letter of the 19th and the enclosures. I wrote immediately to Harold   
11968/10/15 HLS[x]from MertonToday I fly to Asia - tomorrow I hope to be conversing with Bikkhu Khantipulo at Wat Bovoranives....  [on stationery of the Clift Hotel in San Francisco]
11983/11/20 TLS from Fletcher, WulstanPlease forgive me for taking so long in attending to and forwarding the photocopies of Merton's  [from Wulstan Fletcher, O.S.B. of Ampleforth Abbey in England to Fr. William H. Shannon]
21953/02/07 transcript from Van Zeller, Hubert / to MertonHesitating about bothering you with an opinion which can obviously make no great difference,  [from Dom Hubert Van Zeller, O.S.B. (Downside Abbey, near Bath, England) to Merton]
21953/02/14 (#01)transcriptto MertonHaving just finished reading your "SIGN OF JONAS" (in my view by far the most attractive of all your  [transcript typescript by Dom James and 3 carbon copies]
21953/02/16 transcript from Ahern, Barnabas / to MertonBefore Ash Wednesday descends upon us I want to thank you for your last letter. I read that  [transcript typescript and one carbon copy (two carbons transferred to "Ahern, Barnabas" file]
21953/02/20 transcript from Ahern, Barnabas / to James FoxI am writing directly to you, for I feared a letter to Father M. Louis might not reach him during  [transcript typescript and two carbon copies (one carbon transferred to "Ahern, Barnabas" file]
21953/03/03 TLSto Fox, JamesA letter from a mutual friend of ours -- William J. McCormack, Jr., an alumnus of Portsmouth Priory   
21953/03/03 TL[c] from Fox, James / to Aelred GrahamWe received your charming letter of February 14. I am answering for good Father Louis.   
21964/03/10 transcriptto MertonWhat a memorable - and how happy an - experience it was meeting and talking with you.  [series Series 1 for original handwritten letter]
31953/01/no other THOMAS MERTON [-] A Modern Man in Reverse by AELRED GRAHAM [-] 1 [-] It is high time that somebody  [two copies of articles from the "Books and Men" section of <u>Atlantic</u>, January 1953 (Vol. 191, #1), pp. 70-74]
31953/02/02 other Benedictine v. Trappist [-] Ever since the publication four years ago of his bestselling  [a copy of an article from the "Religion" section of <u>Time</u> magazine, February 2, 1953]
31953/02/09 other Merton's Newest [-] Thomas Merton's "The Sign of Jonas"* is easily his best and most readable book  [a copy of an article from the "Religion" section of <u>Newsweek</u> magazine, February 9, 1953]
31953/03/09 other The World &amp; Thomas Merton [-] Sir: In your Feb. 2 article "Benedictine v. Trappist" I was very  [a copy of an article from the "Letters to the Editor" section of <u>Time</u> magazine, March 9, 1953, p.8-9]
31953/03/no (#01)other In the <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, a local literary sheet not usually given to the publicizing  [a copy of an article from the "Pointers" section of <u>The Point</u> magazine (Cambridge, MA), March 1953, p. 2]
31953/03/no (#02)other In Defense of Thomas Merton [-] Sir: When Thomas Merton's <i>Seven Storey Mountain</i> was first  [a copy of an article from the "Repartee, Letters to the Editor" section of <u>Atlantic</u> magazine, March 1953, p. 20]
31953/04/no (#01)other William Davey: Dom Aelred Graham's distressing article "Thomas Merton, A Modern Man in Reverse"  [a copy of an article "Thomas Merton and Dom Aelred Graham" and one copy of the full journal <u>Integrity</u> (New York), April 1953, p. 34-42]
31953/04/no (#02)other Dear Oblates, Those of you who read this column regularly (there must be very few left by this time!  [a copy the article "Brother Samson on: The Merton-Graham Controversy" from a full issue <u>The Oblate</u> (Atchison, Kansas), April 1953 (Vol. 5, #4), p. 25-27]
31953/05/13 other To judge from the Catholic press, the Church's activity today is as vigorous as it has ever been.  [a copy of an article "The Mysticism of Thomas Merton" by Aelred Graham from <u>The Commonweal</u>, May 13, 1955, p. 155-159]
31953/no/no? (#01)other Dom Aelred Graham had been invited to lecture at Notre Dame a month before his article appeared  [anonymous defense, or transcript of such a statement - could possibly be by Dom James Fox because Fox was at Notre Dame for Graham's referenced lecture / one typescript and three carbon copies]
31953/no/no? (#02)other The word is out to "get" Tom Merton. His name has been marked down for slaughter by sons of Belial  [anonymous statement, defense of Merton against Graham, titled "A Perverse Son of St. Benedict" / two carbon copies]
        

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