Thomas Merton
(1915-1968)
Poet, essayist, translator, cartoonist, photographer, social and political
activist, and mystic
Author of "The Seven Storey Mountain"
(Photo courtesy of Thomas Merton Center)
Timothy
Kelly, O.C.S.O.
A Canadian from the Windsor, Ontario area,
he was a novice under Merton
and is currently abbot of Gethsemani.
Patrick
Hart, O.C.S.O.
A monk of Gethsemani, he arrived in 1951, ten years after Merton. He
was a close friend of Merton's, has edited many of his writings, and
was Merton's secretary in the year before his death.
Father
Matthew Kelty, O.C.S.O.
A monk and poet and Merton's confessor.
Paul Quenon, O.C.S.O.
A monk, poet and photographer who was a novice who studied under Merton.
Flavian Burns, O.C.S.O.
He was the abbot of Gethsemani in 1968, the year Merton travelled to
Asia and died in Bangkok.
Robert Giroux,
a fellow student with Merton at Columbia University in the 1930s, who
went on to become a principal in the New York publishing firm of Farrar
Strauss and Giroux. In 1948, Giroux was an assistant editor at Harcourt
Brace; it was he who received the manuscript of "The Seven Storey Mountain,"
and made the decision to publish it.
The
historic highway plaque on the road to the abbey.
The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani
today. Situated in central Kentucky, the abbey was founded by Trappist
monks in 1848. Formally, the Trappists are called the Order of Cistercians
of the Strict Observance, and Trappist monks write the designation O.C.S.O.
after their names.
The
bell tower at the Abbey of Gethsemani.
Inside
the abbey itself at sundown, October 8, 1997
The cemetery at the Abbey of
Gethsemani where Thomas Merton is buried.
Michael Higgins, Ph.D.
Merton scholar, author and narrator of the series, is academic dean
and vice-president of St. Jerome's University at the University of Waterloo.
He has written more than 40 scripts for CBC Radio, including many Ideas
programs.
Michael
Higgins recording the script of "Heretic Blood."
Peter
Togni,
composer of the music commissioned for the series. Click
here to hear an excerpt
in streaming RealAudio or download
.ra file
Bernie
Lucht, series producer.