What Merton Left Behind
at St. Bonaventure College
Thomas Merton spent parts of three summers in Olean, New York and taught English literature (1940-1941) at St. Bonaventure College before leaving to join the Trappist monks in Kentucky in December of 1941.
I was surprised to learn he left behind over four dozen books - they are safely tucked away in the university archives in Olean. I took the photo while on a visit that turned into a Mertonian pilgrimage.
Why do some have the familiar Dewey Decimal System library labels on the spine? Because no one knew, in 1941, Merton’s future celebrity, and so the books he left were shelved in the open library stacks until rescued decades later.
There are several volumes of poetry alongside Minor Elizabethan Drama and novels including Richard Hughes’ In Hazard, Melville’s Moby Dick, and Kafka’s The Trial. Note the Douay-Rheims Bible (lower shelf, far right). One surprised me: F. A. Alexander’s Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual. You can see the title pages, many with Merton’s signature, here.
Thanks to Paul Spaeth, curator and archivist at the university, we found (after ascending a few steep dirt roads) “the Lax cottage” that Merton wrote about in his autobiography, the ever-popular The Seven Storey Mountain. The cottage was then-owned by the family of Merton’s Columbia college friend, the poet Robert Lax. You can see from my photo it’s not maintained, though one wonders about the three satellite dishes!
So, Benjie, Lax’s brother-in-law, gave us this place, and let us live there, trusting more than he should have in our ability to live in a house for more than a week without partially destroying it. Lax and I and (Ed) Rice moved into the cottage, and looked around for a place to put our typewriters.
- p. 262, The Seven Storey Mountain
In pristine condition, on the campus of the college is the St. Therese shrine, an important piece of Merton’s story of deciding to become a monk.
In the silence of the grove my feet were loud on the gravel. I walked and prayed. It was very, very dark by the shrine of the Little Flower. “For Heaven’s sake, help me!” I said.
- p. 399, The Seven Story Mountain
There’s a surprising amount of “Merton history” associated with St. Bonaventure given the short time he lived there. If you’re interested but not able to travel to Olean, New York, you can take a virtual “Merton at St. Bonaventure” tour here.
Of course, a virtual visit can’t compare to the “history-vibe” one gets, for example, when sitting in the reading room of Friedsam Library where Merton spent many hours. The room is still furnished with the same tables, chairs, bookcases, and artwork.
Merton was at the Abbey of Gethsemani when he wrote Seven Storey Mountain. I’m sorry but I don’t know the answer to your question about Nancy Flagg. Thanks for your interest.
Was Thomas Merton located at Bonaventure College when he wrote (in Seven Storey Mountain):
"And when Nancy Flagg was there, she sat in the same sun and combed her long hair, which was marvellous red-gold and I hope she never cut it short because it gave glory to God." ... ?
... and was Nancy Flagg located in an Exclusively Female Area where there were no Trees/Flowers/Shrubs/Grass/etc. for her Hair to be Caught&TangledUp in ?
* with Appreciation in advance for your Thoughtful Response to These Important Questions *