A Hungarian Benedictine monk and Roman Catholic priest who emigrated to the West after the 1956 Revolution and subsequently continued his ministry as a priest and teacher in the United States. He worked in California for nearly half a century, where, first as a Benedictine monk and later as a priest in the Diocese of San Diego, he made significant contributions primarily to Catholic secondary education.

He was born on February 14, 1924, in Győr. He entered the Hungarian Benedictine Congregation on August 6, 1942. He took his first vows on May 13, 1944, his perpetual vows on May 13, 1947, and was ordained a priest on June 27, 1948. In Hungary, he originally used the name József Károly Silly, which he changed to the spelling “Schilly” during his time in the United States.

Following his ordination, he served as student chaplain at the Benedictine High School in Pannonhalma from 1948 to 1950, and then as cantor and teacher at the Benedictine High School in Pápa from 1950 to 1956. Following the 1956 Revolution, he left Hungary.

Between 1956 and 1959, he lived in Belgium, Italy, and West Germany. He first found refuge at the Maredsous Abbey in Belgium, then continued his studies at the Benedictine College of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, and later worked as a teacher and formator at the Hungarian Benedictine High School in Kastl, Bavaria. The 1961 directory of the Hungarian Benedictine Congregation records the same life story: “1956–59 Maredsous, Rome, Kastl; in California from 1959,” which confirms the chronology of these places of service.

He arrived in the United States in August 1959, where he became a member of the Benedictine community at Woodside Priory in California. Over the next decade and a half, he taught mathematics, physics, and religion, while also serving as the school’s financial administrator, treasurer, and later principal. On January 12, 1965, he became a U.S. citizen.

In 1974, he left the Benedictine Order, and on October 1, 1974, he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of San Diego (referred to in Hungarian sources at the time as the Diocese of St. Didacus). He worked briefly in the diocese’s finance office, then continued his ministry as a teacher at Aquinas High School in San Bernardino. He taught religion, mathematics, and physics, while also carrying out pastoral ministry. He retired from teaching in 1994.

He spent the last years of his life at Nazareth House, a Catholic retirement home in San Diego. He passed away on October 12, 2006, in San Diego, at the age of 82.