Prior of St. Procopius Abbey Brother Columban Trojan dies at 71

Brother Columban Trojan, the prior of St. Procopius Abbey and for more than three decades the moderator of the Mothers’ Club at Benet Academy, died just after midnight on Saturday, June 16, at Community Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Naperville. He was 71.

Born in Gary, Ind. on Oct. 20, 1940, Timothy Trojan came into contact with the Benedictines of Lisle through a distant family contact, Sister Irene Sebo of Sacred Heart Monastery.

After she arranged a meeting with Father Thomas Havlik, rector of St. Procopius Academy, the young man enrolled in that school for his high school education. Taking part in the 1956 move to the academy’s new quarters in the former St. Joseph’s Orphanage, Timothy then spent his senior year in a vocation discernment program guided by Father Gilbert Laketek.

After graduation in 1958, he entered the monastery as a lay brother candidate and professed his monastic vows on March 25, 1960. 

He had a gift for organizing information, and as a result he was soon called upon to assist in the Treasurer’s Office of St. Procopius College. 

As the brothers became more integrated into the general life of the community during the years following the Second Vatican Council, Brother Columban took on such roles as dormitory director at the college and both sacristan and master of ceremonies at the Abbey.

In 1973, he was named both treasurer and stationer at Benet Academy. He much enjoyed the theological renewal program that he attended at the Benedictine College of Sant’Anselmo in Rome during the spring of 1980.

In 1981, Brother Columban became moderator of the Academy’s Mothers Club, a position he held until his death. Though he suffered a major heart attack around the time of his 50th birthday in 1990, he recovered sufficiently that the next year Abbot Hugh Anderson asked him to assume the office of prior, second-in-command of the monastery.

Brother Columban was the first non-ordained monk to serve in that position, and for the rest of his life he played a major role in the leadership of the community.

As well as finding good uses for his organizational gifts, Prior Columban projected a sense of peace that did much to help his confreres to keep issues in perspective and heal whatever small disagreements might intrude into community life.

He much enjoyed the annual Priors’ Workshop and in time became one of the senior members of that group, and he was the major organizer of the General Chapter held at St. Procopius in 2004.

Health issues came to the fore thereafter, and from 2005-2010 he held the slightly less strenuous position of subprior. 

Shortly after his election, Abbot Austin Murphy reappointed him to the office of prior, and for the past two years Prior Columban served the community as best he could amidst the troubles caused by a worsening kidney condition.

The reception of Brother Columban and wake service will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 20 in the Abbey Church. A funeral Mass will be said there at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, June 21, followed by burial in the Abbey Cemetery.