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TimothyH
Guest
***Father Luke Marion Kot, 102, monk of the Cistercian (Trappist) Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia died peacefully in the monastery infirmary in the company of his brothers on Thursday evening January 9, 2014. The burial service took place on Monday January 13, 2014 at 9:00AM in the monastery church. Fr. Luke was the last surviving member of the 20 founding monks who came to Conyers, Georgia in 1944 to build a Trappist monastery. He was blessed with the gift of 76 years in religious life, 66 years as a priest, when the Lord called him. Father Luke was the oldest monk of the worldwide Cistercian Order (OCSO). *Read More…
I had the pleasure of meeting Father Kot in 2010 when he was only 99 1/2 years old. He told me that he read an article about monks in Life Magazine when he was young and said, “Yup, that’s for me.” He was one of the monks who came from the Trappist Monastery of Gethsemane by bus to found the monastery in what was then rural Georgia.
I asked him how he was chosen to be a priest.
*The Abbot said I was going to work in the tailor shop and sew the habits. I said, “I don’t want to work in the tailor shop. I want to work in the office.” The Abbot said, “You are going to be the tailor” so I was the tailor. After a while I didn’t mind. Then the Abbot said I was going to be a priest. I said, “I don’t want to be a priest.” The Abbot said, “You will be a priest” so I went to California to seminary and became a priest. After a while I didn’t mind. *
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May his memory be eternal!
Eternal rest grant unto Thy servant Father Luke Kot, O Lord;
Let Thy perpetual light shine upon him,
And may he rest in peace–Amen.
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Requiem for a Trappist Monk
-Tim-