Thomas Merton

French-American writer, poet, monk, mystic and social critic who inspired and touched many 20th century minds and hearts. In 1941 he entered a Trappist monastery in rural Kentucky and was ordained in 1949 after eight years of silence.

His first book, "Seven Story Mountain" sold 600,000 copies in its first year, capturing readers like few books since Saint Augustine's "Confessions." Despite this, the New York Times refused to put it on its best seller list because it was a religious book. In the '60s he began to write on war, social issues, politics and racism, some 50 volumes in all. He was often hailed as a prophet, but also condemned as a blasphemer.

Merton's death was bizarre. During a six-month trip through Asia, the longest of his otherwise cloistered life, on 10 December 1968 he stepped out of a shower in a cottage near Bangkok, reached for a fan with defective wiring and was instantly electrocuted.

Harper-Collins published seven volumes of Merton's private journals, 6,000 pages that included his collected poems, his literary criticism and five volumes of letters to some 1,800 recipients. How he was able to be so voluble was a mystery to his fellow monks. Like them, Father Louis, as he was called, rose at 3:15 AM to pray the first of seven hours out of the day. He said masses, worked the fields, planted hundreds of trees and for ten years served as master to novices. An expert Latinist, he translated all the works of the 13th-century monastic masters.

The Trappists' famous rule of silence was interrupted by visitors, with whom he was a wry and whimsical talker, enjoying a sociable drink of bourbon or a beer. Yet he also craved solitude and the richness of an interior life. He wrote, "I entered the silence and knew that I was at home."

His vows were shaken to their roots in 1966. Merton met a nurse half his age and fell dizzily, recklessly in love. Six months later, he confessed to his spiritual director and agonizingly broke off the relationship.