Cowboy priest Father Remigius Kozak remembered for his
love of faith, priesthood
Story and photo
BY TERRY DICKSON
HATTIESBURG
--
Father
Remigius Kozak, 86, a former Cis-
tercian monk, who ministered in the
State of Mississippi for nearly half
a century, died on Dec. 18 in Hat-
tiesburg.
Bishop Roger Morin celebrated
a Mass of Christian Burial for Father Remigius on Dec.
24 at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Hattiesburg.
“To know Father Remigius, you became a friend.
That’s just the way he was,” said homilist Msgr. Jo-
seph Mercier, whose friendship with Father Remigius
spanned more than six decades, going all the way back
to their time in Rome as seminarians.
“I first met him on a ship called the
Saturnia
, an
Italian liner leaving New York for Rome and then to
Naples. When I first got on that ship, before it left New
York Harbor, I walked up to the main deck and who was
walking up there but Father Remigius. He was going
into his first year of theology and I was going into my
first year of philosophy. He had joined the Cistercians
in Wisconsin and he studied at the Generalate of the
Cistercian Order in Rome and attended the Benedictine
Seminary (San Anselmo). I was at the Gregorian Uni-
versity, but that didn’t keep us a part.”
On the contrary, the two young seminarians were
regular running buddies.
“Shortly after we got to Rome and I had moved into
my room at the North American College, I got a call
from Remigius,” Msgr. Mercier recalled. “He’d always
call me. I didn’t necessarily have access to a phone,
but several times I would call him and we would do
things together. We went to the
restaurants together. One time,
I said, ‘Where are we going?’
It was his turn to pick the res-
taurant, I guess. And he said,
‘The Croce.’ Now the Croce is
also a church and a restaurant
near it was called Ristorante
del Croce. I asked him why we
were going there and he said, ‘I
told my superior we were going
to the Croce. I hope he thinks
that we‘re going to church.’
That’s the kind of thing he
would do. He was always up to
something.”
Msgr. Mercier remembered
that the Hungarian seminarians
who attended seminary with
Father Remigius all spoke Hun-
garian and little to no English.
“So he would just come down to the North Ameri-
can College and I’d say, ‘What are you doing?’ He’d
say, ‘I came down here to speak some English,’” Msgr.
Mercier said.
During that first year of seminary, Msgr. Mercier
said, the seminarians always went on a summer trip.
“I went some friends from the North American Col-
lege on a summer trip to France and Father Remigius
was there by himself in his Cistercian habit,” Msgr.
Mercier said.
“This other guy and I decided to go to Rheims and
see the cathedral. As we were getting off the train, who
was standing there ready to get back on the train but
Father Remigius in his habit. He looked at me and said,
‘Can you wear civvies on your summer trip?’ I said yes
and he said, ‘Well, they made me wear this.’
See Fr. remigius kozak, page 7
Bishop Roger Morin places the Book of Gospels on the casket of Father
Remigius Kozak during a Dec. 24 funeral Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas
Parish in Hattiesburg.
Fr. Kozak
6
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