Thomas Merton

Merton, Thomas (1915–68), U.S. religious writer of poetry, meditative works and an autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948). A convert to Roman Catholicism, he became a Trappist monk (1941) and was later ordained a priest. The French-born Merton also wrote The Waters of Siloe (1949) and The Sign of Jonas (1953) about the Trappist life.