Merton, Thomas

1915 – He was born this year in Prades, France to Owen Merton, a New Zealand painter active in Europe and the USA, and Ruth Jenkins, an American Quaker and artist.

1917 – His family moved into an old house in Flushing, NY.

1922 - Owen and Tom traveled to Bermuda, having left John Paul with the Jenkins family in Douglaston, Long Island.

1923 – He returned to Douglaston to live with the Jenkins Family and John Paul.

1926 – At age eleven, Merton and Owen parted ways again.

1928 - Owen came and took Tom out of Lycée, informing him that they were headed to England.

1931 – Just as the term at Oak ham had restarted, Owen died.

1933 – He entered Clare College in Cambridge as a freshman, a place where he came very close to losing himself. He took a boat from Italy to America to visit his grandparents in Douglaston for the summer, before entering Clare College in Cambridge.

1935 – He enrolled as a sophomore at Columbia University in Manhattan, NY while living with the Jenkins family in Douglaston and taking a train to the Columbia campus each day.

1936 – His grandfather, Samuel Jenkins, died.

1937 – He read a book that opened his mind to Catholicism.

1938 – He graduated from Columbia with a B.A. in English. He was baptized at Corpus Christi Church and received Holy Communion.

1939 – He received his M.A. in English from Columbia University.

1940 - Merton was given an application, as well as Fr. Murphy's personal invitation to become a Franciscan friar. Merton began to have doubts about whether he was fit to be a Franciscan.

1941 – He arrived at the Abbey of Gethsemani and spent three days at the monastery guest house, waiting for acceptance into the Order.

1942 - During the first Sunday of Lent, Merton was accepted as a novice monk at the monastery.

1943 – He was tasked to translate religious texts and write biographies on the saints for the monastery.

1944 – He made his temporary profession vows and was given the white cowl, black scapular and leather belt.

1947 – He was more comfortable with his role as writer. On March 19 of this year he took his solemn vows, a commitment to live out his life at the monastery.

1949 – He took a train to Louisville and applied for U.S. citizenship. Thomas Merton was ordained as a priest, saying his first mass that following day in honor of Our Lady of Cobre.

1960s He had arrived at a frankly human viewpoint, one deeply concerned about the world and issues like peace, racial tolerance, and social equity.

1968 - He died in Bangkok on the 10th day of December this year, having touched a poorly grounded electric fan while stepping out of his bath. His body was flown back to Gethsemani where he is buried.