Brother Richard Lukovich of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers died August 4, after a prolonged illness. Brother Richard was being transferred from St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta to the monastery so he might spend time with the community that had been home and family to him for 46 years.

Brother Richard was born Imrich Lukovich on October 8, 1902 in a small town on the border of Hungary. At the age of 15, he joined a new missionary community, the Society of the Divine Word, at Nazareth House near Budapest. In 1935, the order sent him to Illinois, where he worked at the Divine Word U.S. headquarters in Techny. Five years later he entered the Trappist Order at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky.

Brother Richard became one of the founding monks of the Conyers abbey when he was sent there in 1944. He passed most of his religious life as a shoemaker, tailor and gardener. In a 1982 interview in Divine Word magazine, the venerable Trappist was asked how he saw death.

"As a sister opening the gates of heaven, as a sister. No fears; it would be a great joy," he replied.

The funeral Mass and interment for Brother Richard took place in Conyers on August 6, the feast of the Transfiguration. A surviving sister, a Religious in Hungary, was unable to attend.