Merton at our church

“I had discovered a place where I was to find out something about Happiness,” wrote Thomas Merton of his time in rural Olean, New York. His astonishing spiritual conversion from a young man of the world to a Trappist monk, detailed in his best-selling book, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), was in large measure rooted in the wholesome environment he discovered in Olean, the place where Thomas Merton made significant choices.  This classic autobiography launched his career as the most influential American Catholic author of the twentieth century.

By 1938 he had been on a long spiritual journey which eventually brought him from New York City to this hidden corner of the state. “[…] when we got out at Olean we breathed its health and listened to its silence,” the young Merton recalled as he stepped off the train station platform. 

During this time just prior to World War II, he had been accepted as an English instructor at St. Bonaventure College. Merton had previously visited Olean and the university as a friend of Olean native, Robert Lax, a fellow student at Columbia University where he received his graduate degree. Before his arrival, a series of events, detailed in his best-selling autobiography, led him from a rather hedonistic, self-centered irreligious life to a conversion to the Catholic Church and a life of piety, concern for the poor and deep longing for solitude. During the academic year 1939-1940, he would make frequent stops into St. Mary of the Angels Church to pray, go to confession and walk the Stations of the Cross.

1940 would be a year of deep discernment for the 25-year-old Thomas Merton. Two days after the bombing of Pear Harbor, he left St. Bonaventure to enter the Trappist Monastery in Kentucky.

On his way to the train station, he made time to stop at St. Mary of the Angels Church to once again pray the Stations of the Cross. 

"The place was empty," he wrote in Seven Storey Mountain of this last visit. "There were one or two little candles burning out in front of the statue of St. Joseph and the red sanctuary light flickered in the quiet shadows. I knelt there for 10 or 12 minutes in the silence without even attempting to grasp or comprehend the immense, deep sense of peace and gratitude that filled my heart and went out from there to Christ in His Tabernacle." 

He boarded the Olean train one last time—his journey taking him to the Trappist monastery where he would begin a hidden life as one of the most important spiritual writers of the 20th century. 

To commemorate Merton's prayer experience in St. Mary's that night, the parish instituted a new perpetual candle on December 14, 2016 for the 75th anniversary of this visit. Our new blue candle is located near the St. Joseph statue to ensure that we always have a candle burning in that space for anyone coming in to pray, particularly those looking for discernment and consolation. 

This candle is part of our Light a Prayer Candle prayer intitiative for our online community. Now, anyone not able to physically light a candle in our church may light a virtual prayer candle through our website. The prayer intentions of that community are united in the holy flame of this candle. These intentions from our online community are also included in our daily Mass intentions. 
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Thomas Merton (1915-1968) His autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, has sold over one million copies and has been translated into over fifteen languages. He wrote over sixty other books and hundreds of poems and articles on topics ranging from monastic spirituality to civil rights, nonviolence, and the nuclear arms race. Check out the links below.