Born in France of New Zealander and American parentage, Merton converted to Catholicism in 1938, while studying at Columbia University. In 1941 he entered the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, and there wrote a number of books on religion and spirituality, including the enormously popular autobiography, Seven Storey Mountain. A monk vowed to silence, he nonetheless through his writings became well known in the causes for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam. He later became deeply involved in Buddhist-Christian dialogue; he was at a conference in Bangkok when he died.
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