József Csaba Rékasi was born on August 28, 1921, in Jászberény. He graduated from the József Nádor High School. Even as a student, he was interested in literature, theater, and the visual arts; László Mécs’s poetry and personal example also influenced his decision to enter the monastic life. He entered the Premonstratensian Abbey in Jászó on August 28, 1940. He took his simple vows on September 9, 1941, and his solemn vows on September 9, 1944. He studied philosophy and theology in Jászó, then continued his studies in Gödöllő, Budapest, and Paris. At Pázmány Péter University and the Sorbonne, he studied Hungarian and French literature, as well as Finno-Ugric and Romance linguistics; he earned a degree in language teaching in Paris. According to his own account, he was ordained a priest on March 25, 1946, although one of the order’s registers lists the year as 1947.

In December 1952, he arrived in the United States by ship. He first lived at the Premonstratensian monastery in Philadelphia, then taught French and Latin at St. Norbert College in De Pere. He then became a faculty member and doctoral candidate at Fordham University in New York. In 1960, he earned a Ph.D. in linguistics and literary studies with a dissertation on the relationship between Paul Claudel’s poetics and his dramatic works. From 1957 onward, for some thirty-six years, he was involved in French language and cultural education at the University of Detroit. His areas of expertise were French theater, art, and phonetics. He regularly led student study trips to Paris and maintained lasting relationships with his former students as a spiritual mentor. For his contributions to the promotion of French culture in the United States, he was named a Knight of the Academic Palms in 1967 and an Officer of the order in 1979. He retired in 1992 and moved back to De Pere, where he lived in the community of St. Joseph’s Priory. He passed away on March 26, 2016, at the age of 94. He was laid to rest in the cemetery of St. Norbert Abbey.