The Seven Storey Mountain
The Seven Storey Mountain is the 1948 autobiography of Thomas Merton, an American Trappist monk and priest who was a noted author in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Merton finished the book in 1946 at the age of 31, five years after entering Gethsemani Abbey near Bardstown, Kentucky. The title refers to the mountain of purgatory from Dante's Purgatorio.
First edition
Merton's hermitage at the Abbey of Gethsemani
Thomas Merton was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and given the name "Father Louis". He was a member of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky, living there from 1941 to his death.
Thomas Merton
Corpus Christi Church, W. 121st St.
Thomas Merton's hermitage at The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani
The grave of Thomas Merton. His grave marker reads "Fr. Louis Merton, died Dec. 10, 1968".