St. Bonaventure College is presented as an important setting in Thomas Merton’s life before his entry into monastic life. Its Franciscan spirit appealed to him, but he did not regard teaching there as his permanent vocation; the college also brought him into contact with people and choices that pointed beyond it.

Setting and Character

The account identifies St. Bonaventure College as a place where Merton taught English and found a Franciscan atmosphere he enjoyed. It provides no further description of the college’s location or organization, but its religious character is central to his experience there.

Merton’s Teaching and Vocation

In the fall, Merton became an instructor in English, earning forty-five dollars a month plus room and board. He valued the college’s Franciscan spirit, yet did not see his position as a lasting vocation. As the war in Europe expanded, he underwent a draft physical and was rejected because of bad teeth. At the suggestion of Dan Walsh, he then made a Holy Week retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani, arriving on Palm Sunday, April 5, 1941. The retreat brought the silence, prayer, and disciplined monastic life into sharper focus as a possible direction for him.

Encounters and Significance

The college was also where Merton met Catherine De Hueck Doherty, a Russian baroness who spoke there and had founded Friendship House in Harlem to serve poor people. Merton visited Friendship House, but decided that he needed a situation that would give him time to write. His teaching post thus belongs to a transitional period: the college offered a valued religious environment, while Merton’s encounter with Doherty and his retreat at Gethsemani helped clarify that he was seeking a different form of life.