This file includes documents allowing or banning publication of Merton's essays, books, and introductions to others' books. The standard procedure was to have him submit these works to two censors (who were to remain anonymous). If they saw nothing of d
| Series Number | Series Name | Total Records |
| 1 |
A Dream at Arles on the Night of the Mistral |
1 |
| 2 |
A Messenger from the Horizon |
1 |
| 3 |
A Picture of Lee Ying |
1 |
| 4 |
A Practical Program for Monks |
1 |
| 5 |
Absurdity in Sacred Decoration |
3 |
| 6 |
Active and Contemplative Orders |
2 |
| 7 |
Advent Mystery |
1 |
| 8 |
Advice to a Young Prophet |
1 |
| 9 |
Alone with God |
1 |
| 10 |
An Elegy for Ernest Hemingway |
1 |
| 11 |
An Elegy for Five Old Ladies |
5 |
| 12 |
And So Goodbye to Cities |
1 |
| 13 |
And the Children of Birmingham |
1 |
| 14 |
Apologies to an Unbeliever |
2 |
| 15 |
Approach to Creativity |
1 |
| 16 |
Art and Worship |
19 |
| 17 |
Artist Soul - Roger Durey [book by Dom André Malet; translated from the French by Mother Mary St. Thomas (of Tyburn)] |
1 |
| 18 |
Ascent to Truth |
23 |
| 19 |
Ash Wednesday |
3 |
| 20 |
Atlas Watches Every Evening |
2 |
| 21 |
Attente dans le silence: le père Marie-Joseph Cassant, O. Cist. S. O., by Marie-Étienne Chenevière with preface by Merton |
1 |
| 22 |
Balanced Life of Prayer |
4 |
| 23 |
Baptism in the Forest [introduction to anthology, "Mansions of the Spirit: Essays in Religion and Literature"] |
1 |
| 24 |
Baroque Gravure |
2 |
| 25 |
Barth's Dream [included in book "Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander"] |
1 |
| 26 |
Basic Principles of Monastic Spirituality |
2 |
| 27 |
Behavior of Titans |
1 |
| 28 |
Black Revolution and Cold War [unpublished book in this form, see also "Seeds of Destruction"] |
6 |
| 29 |
Black Revolution: Letters to a White Liberal [included in book "Seeds of Destruction"] |
2 |
| 30 |
Blessed Are the Meek: the Roots of Christian Nonviolence |
1 |
| 31 |
Bread in the Wilderness |
4 |
| 32 |
Carmelite Sanctity |
2 |
| 33 |
Chant to Be Used in Processions around a Site with Furnaces |
2 |
| 34 |
Christian Action in World Crisis [part of unpublished "Black Revolution and Cold War"] |
4 |
| 35 |
Christian Ethics and Nuclear War [part of unpublished "Black Revolution and Cold War"] |
19 |
| 36 |
Christian in World Crisis [book, published as "Redeeming the Time"] |
1 |
| 37 |
Christian Life of Prayer [early draft section of "Contemplative Prayer"] |
3 |
| 38 |
Christian Perfection [article for "The Catholic Encyclopedia for School and Home"] |
3 |
| 39 |
Christianity and Mass Movements |
1 |
| 40 |
Christmas Devotion |
2 |
| 41 |
Cistercian Contemplatives |
3 |
| 42 |
City of God by St. Augustine, preface for the Modern Library Edition by Thomas Merton |
1 |
| 43 |
Classic Chinese Thought |
1 |
| 44 |
Clement of Alexandria: Selections from the Protreptikos |
1 |
| 45 |
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander |
2 |
| 46 |
Contemplation |
1 |
| 47 |
Contemplation and the Priesthood |
1 |
| 48 |
Contemplation in a Rocking Chair |
1 |
| 49 |
Death of a Trappist |
2 |
| 50 |
Disputed Questions |
5 |
| 51 |
Early Legend |
1 |
| 52 |
Easter: The New Life |
5 |
| 53 |
Edifying Cables or Familiar Liturgies of Misunderstanding [book, published as "Cables to the Ace or Familiar Liturgies of Misunderstanding"] |
2 |
| 54 |
Elegy for James Thurber |
1 |
| 55 |
English Mystics |
4 |
| 56 |
Exile Ends in Glory |
1 |
| 57 |
Faith and Violence |
2 |
| 58 |
Few Questions - Fewer Answers |
1 |
| 59 |
First and Last Thoughts [preface to "A Thomas Merton Reader"] |
1 |
| 60 |
Gethsemani: The Life of Praise |
1 |
| 61 |
Gloss of the Sin of Ixion |
2 |
| 62 |
Good Samaritan |
2 |
| 63 |
Grace's House |
1 |
| 64 |
Hagia Sophia |
1 |
| 65 |
Herakleitos the Obscure |
1 |
| 66 |
Hermit Life |
1 |
| 67 |
Homily on Mary |
1 |
| 68 |
Human Way Out, The [preface to book, "Breakthrough to Peace"] |
2 |
| 69 |
Humanity of Christ in Monastic Prayer |
1 |
| 70 |
In Search of a Yogi, by Denys Rutledge [preface] |
2 |
| 71 |
Integrity |
1 |
| 72 |
Is Mysticism Normal? |
1 |
| 73 |
Jesuits in China |
2 |
| 74 |
Jorge Carrera Andrade |
1 |
| 75 |
Last of the Fathers |
5 |
| 76 |
Laudate Dominum [sound recording] |
2 |
| 77 |
Let the Poor Man Speak |
1 |
| 78 |
Letter to Pablo Antonio Cuadra Concerning Giants |
4 |
| 79 |
Letters in Time of Crisis |
1 |
| 80 |
Life and Holiness |
2 |
| 81 |
Light in Darkness |
1 |
| 82 |
Liturgy and Spiritual Personalism |
3 |
| 83 |
Living Bread |
1 |
| 84 |
Loretto and Gethsemani |
1 |
| 85 |
Love Winter When the Plant Says Nothing |
2 |
| 86 |
Macarius the Younger and Macarius and the Pony |
1 |
| 87 |
Machine Gun in the Fallout Shelter |
2 |
| 88 |
Miscellaneous Correspondence Concerning Censorship |
14 |
| 89 |
Monastic Peace |
5 |
| 90 |
Monk in the Diaspora |
1 |
| 91 |
Morte d'Urban, by J.F. Powers [book review] |
1 |
| 92 |
Mount Athos |
1 |
| 93 |
Mystery of the Church in St. Ignatius of Antioch (Church and Bishop in St. Ignatius of Antioch) |
3 |
| 94 |
Mystics and Zen Masters |
4 |
| 95 |
Name of the Lord |
1 |
| 96 |
Nativity Kerygma |
2 |
| 97 |
New Man |
5 |
| 98 |
New Seeds of Contemplation |
11 |
| 99 |
Night Flowering Cactus |
1 |
| 100 |
No Man Is an Island |
4 |
| 101 |
Notes for a Philosophy of Solitude |
5 |
| 102 |
Notes on Art and Worship |
3 |
| 103 |
Notes on Sacred Art |
3 |
| 104 |
Notes on the Lord's Prayer [book foreword] |
1 |
| 105 |
O Sweet Irrational Worship |
1 |
| 106 |
On Remembering Monsieur Delmas |
1 |
| 107 |
Original Child Bomb |
2 |
| 108 |
Pasternak, Boris (The Pasternak Affair in Perspective, and Boris Pasternak and the People with Watch Chains) |
6 |
| 109 |
Peace in the Post-Christian Era |
5 |
| 110 |
Peace: Christian Duties and Perspectives |
5 |
| 111 |
Portait of Peter Damian |
1 |
| 112 |
Postulant's Guide |
1 |
| 113 |
Prayer for Peace |
1 |
| 114 |
Présence a Dieu et a soi meme, by Fr. François de Sainte-Marie, O.C.D. |
1 |
| 115 |
Primacy of Contemplation |
1 |
| 116 |
Primative Carmelite Ideal |
3 |
| 117 |
Prometheus |
5 |
| 118 |
Prophetic Ambiguities: Milton and Camus |
1 |
| 119 |
Rain and the Rhinoceros |
1 |
| 120 |
Reflections on the Character and Genius of Fenelon |
1 |
| 121 |
Russian Mystics, by Sergius Bolshakoff with a preface by Thomas Merton |
1 |
| 122 |
Sacred Art and the Spiritual Life (Sacred Art and Religion) |
2 |
| 123 |
Saint John of the Ladder |
2 |
| 124 |
Saints for Now, by Clare Boothe Luce with an essay by Merton regarding St. John of the Cross |
8 |
| 125 |
Seasons of Celebration |
2 |
| 126 |
Secular Journal |
16 |
| 127 |
Seeds of Contemplation |
2 |
| 128 |
Seeking God |
1 |
| 129 |
Selections from Gandhi, selected and with an introduction by Thomas Merton |
3 |
| 130 |
Seven Archaic Images |
2 |
| 131 |
Sign of Jonas |
18 |
| 132 |
Signed Confession of Crimes against the State |
1 |
| 133 |
Some Poems of Raissa Maritain |
2 |
| 134 |
Song for Nobody |
1 |
| 135 |
Song for the Death of Averroes |
2 |
| 136 |
Song: If You Seek |
1 |
| 137 |
Soul of the Apostolate |
3 |
| 138 |
Spirit of simplicity |
3 |
| 139 |
Spiritual Direction [article for the New Catholic Encyclopedia] |
1 |
| 140 |
Spiritual Direction |
1 |
| 141 |
Spiritual Father in the Desert Tradition |
2 |
| 142 |
Spiritual Life |
1 |
| 143 |
Target Equals City |
5 |
| 144 |
Tears of the Blind Lions |
2 |
| 145 |
The Fall |
1 |
| 146 |
The Moment of Truth |
1 |
| 147 |
The Moslems' Angel of Death: Algeria 1961 |
1 |
| 148 |
The Ox Mountain Parable |
1 |
| 149 |
There Has to Be a Jail for Ladies |
1 |
| 150 |
Third Spiritual Alphabet, by Francisco de Osuna [book review by Merton] |
1 |
| 151 |
Thoughts in Solitude |
8 |
| 152 |
To Alphonso Cortes |
1 |
| 153 |
Tower of Babel |
4 |
| 154 |
Trappist Cistercian Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen) [meditation on the text] |
1 |
| 155 |
Trappists Go to Utah |
1 |
| 156 |
Tribute to Greatness |
4 |
| 157 |
Two Chinese Classics |
5 |
| 158 |
Universe as Epiphany |
2 |
| 159 |
Virginity and Humanism in the Fathers |
1 |
| 160 |
Vocation to Solitude |
4 |
| 161 |
Waters of Siloe |
1 |
| 162 |
Way of Chuang Tzu |
1 |
| 163 |
Way of Perfection |
1 |
| 164 |
What Are These Wounds? |
1 |
| 165 |
What Is Contemplation? |
1 |
| 166 |
What Is Meditation? |
1 |
| 167 |
Why Some Look Up to Planets and Heroes |
1 |
| 168 |
Wisdom in Emptiness: A Dialogue between Daisetz T. Suzuki and Thomas Merton |
1 |
| 169 |
Wisdom of the Desert |
6 |
| Series# | Date | From/To | First Lines | Pub ✓ | Notes |
| | y/m/d | Merton | | Scan ✉ | |
Series 126 #1.
«All Series« |
1957/03/12 |
TAL[x] from Sortais, Gabriel / to James Fox |
Vos lettres du 2 Mars m'ont été renvoyées de Rome en France, où je suis actuellement en voyage. |
|
"Secular Journal" [book] - (here referenced as the "Journal Cubain" [Cuban Journal])
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #2.
«All Series« |
1957/04/02 (#01) |
TL[x] from Fox, James / to Shane Regan |
We have received word from our Rmme that you have been appointed Censor of a small manuscript |
|
"Secular Journal" [book] / Catherine de Hueck Doherty
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #3.
«All Series« |
1957/04/02 (#02) |
TL[x] from Fox, James / to Paul Bourne |
We received word from our dear Rmme that you have been appointed Censor of a small manuscript |
|
"Secular Journal" [book] / Catherine de Hueck Doherty
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #4.
«All Series« |
1957/04/15 (#01) |
TL[x] from Fox, James / to Shane Regan |
We received your kind letter in regard to a "Secular Journal" of Father Louis. We checked with him |
|
"Secular Journal" [book]
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #5.
«All Series« |
1957/04/15 (#02) |
TL[x] from Fox, James / to Paul Bourne |
Your fellow censor of the "Secular Journal" wrote me as to what approach he should make. |
|
"Secular Journal" [book]
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #6.
«All Series« |
1957/08/13 |
TLS[x] from Sortais, Gabriel / to James Fox |
Le deuxième compte-rendu de la censure concernant "A Secular Journal" de Thomas Merton qui n'était |
|
"Secular Journal" [book]
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #7.
«All Series« |
1957/08/19 |
TLS[x] from Fox, James / to Gabriel O'Connell |
We just received a note from Rmme that he has appointed you as a third censor for a manuscript |
|
"Secular Journal" [book]
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #8.
«All Series« |
1957/10/14 |
TL[x] from Fox, James / to Dom Anthony |
Under separate cover we are sending you the manuscript that you have been asked to check over to see |
|
"Secular Journal" [book]
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #9.
«All Series« |
1958/04/08 (#01) |
TLS[x] from Sortais, Gabriel / to James Fox |
Vous trouverez sous cette enveloppe l'IMPRIMI POTEST que j'ai le plaisir de vous envoyer pour |
|
"Secular Journal" [book]
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #10.
«All Series« |
1958/04/08 (#02) |
other[x] by Sortais, Gabriel |
SECULAR JOURNAL ou CUBAN JOURNAL composé par le Pl Louis Merton avant son entrée à N.D. |
|
"Secular Journal" [book] - Nihil Obstat Paul Bourne and Shane Regan; Imprimi Potest, Dom Gabriel Sortais
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #11.
«All Series« |
1958/04/08? (#03) |
TNS by Censor (anonymous) |
IIA CRITICISM 1) Reasons for publication: Preface, page 1, line 5 from bottom: "Therefore, |
|
"Secular Journal" [book] - censors criticisms (two different censors? - first page is incomplete) - cites that readers could make a "logical and psychological distinction" between journal published at age 24 and one published 16 years later, not an "ethical distinction" - refuses Nihil Obstat due to "shock" caused to readers
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #12.
«All Series« |
1958/07/11 |
TLS[x] from Fox, James / to Shane Regan |
We are writing in regard to the manuscript which you censored for Father Louis, the title of which |
|
"Secular Journal" [book]
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #13.
«All Series« |
1958/07/15 |
HLS from Regan, Shane / to James Fox |
It was thoughtful of you to write me concerning Father Louis' "A Secular Journal." I deeply |
|
"Secular Journal" [book]
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #14.
«All Series« |
1958/07/no? |
TNS from Regan, Shane / to James Fox |
SUGGESTIONS 1) Secular Journal is not an expressive title. "Secular" has so many meanings: |
|
"Secular Journal" [book] - [no date but Fox responds on July 11, 1958]
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #15.
«All Series« |
1959/03/03 |
TLS[x] from Bourne, Paul / to James Fox |
Have just mailed a most enthusiastic endorsement of 'The Power and Meaning of Love' to Father |
|
"Secular Journal" [book] / "The Power and Meaning of Love" / endorsement of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago by Merton
«detailed view» |
Series 126 #16.
«All Series« |
1959/03/09 |
TL[x] from Fox, James / to Paul Bourne |
We received your charming note of March 3 together with the manuscript of Father Louis entitled THE |
|
"Secular Journal" [book] / "The Power and Meaning of Love" / endorsement of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago by Merton
«detailed view» |