Editing Thomas Merton (section)

==College==
In October 1933, Merton, age 18, entered [[Clare College, Cambridge]], as an undergraduate to study French and Italian.<ref name=tmc/> He was unhappy at Clare College, preferring loafing over studying, and fathered a child that he never met,<ref name="Jacobs" /> although he later signed at least two official court documents stating that he had "no children".<ref>{{cite web|title=Declaration of Intention|url=http://www.themartyrdomofthomasmerton.com/ewExternalFiles/Declaration%20of%20intention.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Petition for Naturalization|url=http://www.themartyrdomofthomasmerton.com/ewExternalFiles/Petition-for-Naturalization-1948.pdf}}</ref>

In January 1935, Merton enrolled as a sophomore at [[Columbia University]] in New York City. There he established close and long-lasting friendships with the painter [[Ad Reinhardt]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Yau|first=John|date=January 16, 2014|title=Ad Reinhardt and the Via Negativa|url=https://brooklynrail.org/special/AD_REINHARDT/ad-and-spirituality/ad-reinhardt-and-the-via-negativa|access-date=August 29, 2021|website=The Brooklyn Rail|language=en-US|archive-date=August 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803100923/https://brooklynrail.org/special/AD_REINHARDT/ad-and-spirituality/ad-reinhardt-and-the-via-negativa|url-status=live}}</ref> poet [[Robert Lax]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Biddle|first=Arthur W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DGO8mse-lOIC&q=john+slate+robert+lax&pg=PR8|title=When Prophecy Still Had a Voice: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Robert Lax|date=January 1, 2001|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-2168-0|language=en|access-date=September 1, 2021|archive-date=May 31, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531065639/https://books.google.com/books?id=DGO8mse-lOIC&q=john+slate+robert+lax&pg=PR8#v=snippet&q=john%20slate%20robert%20lax&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> commentator [[Ralph de Toledano]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ziolkowski|first=Jan M.|date=2018|title=The Juggler of Notre Dame and the Medievalizing of Modernity. Volume 6: War and Peace, Sex and Violence|url=https://www.openbookpublishers.com/htmlreader/978-1-78374-539-5/ch3.xhtml|access-date=August 29, 2021|website=openbookpublishers.com|archive-date=August 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829082033/https://www.openbookpublishers.com/htmlreader/978-1-78374-539-5/ch3.xhtml|url-status=live}}</ref> and the law student [[John Slate]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Slate, John H., 1913–1967 – Correspondence|url=http://merton.org/Research/Correspondence/y1.aspx?id=1861|access-date=July 10, 2021|website=merton.org|archive-date=May 31, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531065643/https://merton.org/Research/Correspondence/y1.aspx?id=1861|url-status=live}}</ref> He also befriended the publisher [[Robert Giroux]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvpj7764|title=The Letters of Robert Giroux and Thomas Merton|date=2015|publisher=University of Notre Dame Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctvpj7764|jstor=j.ctvpj7764|isbn=978-0-268-01786-6|access-date=August 29, 2021|archive-date=August 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829082022/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvpj7764|url-status=live}}</ref> Merton attended an 18th-century English literature course during the spring semester taught by [[Mark Van Doren]], a professor with whom he maintained a lifetime friendship.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ledbetter |first=J. T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zvkfAQAAIAAJ&q=thomas+merton+mark+van+doren |title=Mark Van Doren |date=1996 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-0-8204-3334-9 |pages=158 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:CorpusChristiExt2.jpg|thumb|left|Corpus Christi Church, W. 121st St.]]
In January 1938, Merton graduated from Columbia with a [[B.A.]] in English. In June, his friend Seymour Freedgood arranged a meeting with [[Mahanambrata Brahmachari]], a [[Hindu]] monk visiting New York from the [[University of Chicago]]. Merton was impressed by him. While Merton expected Brahmachari to recommend Hinduism, instead he advised Merton to reconnect with Christianity. He suggested Merton read the ''[[Confessions (Augustine)|Confessions]]'' of [[Augustine]] and ''[[The Imitation of Christ]]''. Merton read them both.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mahanambrata Brahmachari Is Dead at 95 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/01/world/mahanambrata-brahmachari-is-dead-at-95.html?sec=&spon= |date=November 1, 1999 |newspaper=New York Times |first=Gustav |last=Niebuhr |access-date=May 25, 2010 |archive-date=May 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523130315/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/01/world/mahanambrata-brahmachari-is-dead-at-95.html?sec=&spon= |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 1938, he attended [[Mass in the Catholic Church|Mass]] at [[Corpus Christi Church (New York City)|Corpus Christi Church]], located near the Columbia campus. He began to read more extensively in Catholicism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=King |first=David A. |date=2019-10-17 |title=Thomas Merton and the doors of Corpus Christi Church - Georgia Bulletin |url=https://georgiabulletin.org/news/2019/10/thomas-merton-and-the-doors-of-corpus-christi-church/ |access-date=2024-10-31 |website=georgiabulletin.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

On November 16, 1938, Thomas Merton underwent the rite of baptism at Corpus Christi Church and received [[Eucharist in the Catholic Church|Holy Communion]].<ref>''Thomas Merton's paradise journey: writings on contemplation,'' by William Henry Shannon, Thomas Merton, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000 p. 278.</ref> On February 22, 1939, Merton received his [[M.A.]] in English from Columbia University. Merton decided he would pursue his [[PhD]] at Columbia and moved from Douglaston to [[Greenwich Village]]. He then discerned a call to [[religious life]].