Page "The Seven Storey Mountain" Paragraph 3

The Seven Storey Mountain is an autobiography which reflects on the life of Thomas Merton and his quest for his faith in God leading to his conversion to Roman Catholicism at age 23.

Subsequently he left behind a promising literary career and resigned as a teacher of English literature at St. Bonaventure College in Olean, New York, and entered The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in rural Kentucky on December 10, 1941, a moment which he described in the book: "... So Brother Matthew locked the gate behind me, and I was enclosed in the four walls of my new freedom.

" Later, Dom Frederic Dunne, the abbot at the abbey, who had received him as novice, suggested that Merton write out his life story, which he reluctantly began, but once he did, it started " pouring out ".

Soon he was filling up his journals with the work which led to the book which TIME later ascribed for having, "... redefined the image of monasticism and made the concept of saintliness accessible to moderns.