Patrick Hart

1925 - 2019  (93 years)

• Name	Patrick Hart
  Born	14 Jun 1925	Askeaton, Brown Co, Wisconsin
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	Trappist monk
  Died	21 Feb 2019	Kentucky
  Person ID	I346630	Little Chute Genealogy
  Last Modified	8 Mar 2019

  
  

  Father	Michael Hart,   b. 18 Apr 1887,   d. 24 Jan 1971, Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin  (Age 83 years)
  Mother	Mary Frances Fox,   b. 27 Mar 1896, Hollandtown, Brown Co, Wisconsin ,   d. 04 Oct 1973  (Age 77 years)
  Family ID	F36087	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

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• Notes

  Brother Patrick Hart, O.C.S.O., who served as the last secretary to Father Louis Merton—better known as Thomas Merton, the heralded Trappist monk and author of the spiritual classic The Seven Storey Mountain—died at the age of 93 on Feb. 21. After Merton’s death, he became the literary executor of Merton’s works and the custodian of the legacy of the 20th century’s most prominent religious seekers and teachers. A native of Green Bay, Wis., Brother Hart was born on June 14, 1925. Two important events in his life both occurred two days after his birthday: the first when he entered the Brothers of the Holy Cross at Notre Dame on June 16, 1947, and the second when he entered the Abbey of the Gethsemani exactly four years later. He put on the Cistercian habit in 1951 and took his solemn profession of vows in 1957. Brother Hart became the secretary to Thomas Merton in the summer of 1968. Little did he know that it would be for mere months; in December, Merton died from an accidental electrocution while attending a religious conference in Thailand. Among his other accomplishments, Brother Hart was appointed to the staff of the Trappist Generalate in Rome in 1966. After Merton’s death, he was a member of the board of directors of Cistercian Publications and was editor-in-chief of Cistercian Studies Quarterly; later he served as book review editor for the Quarterly.