Brother Lawrence Oluf Koester, OSB
Our dear friend and brother, Brother Lawrence (Oluf) Koester, monk of the former Benedictine Monastery of Erlac in Sonoita, passed away on Sunday, January 30, 2022. He would have reached 91 years of age on February 16 this year. Pictured above, left to right, are Br. Lawrence, Abbot Pachomius, and oblate Br. Dominique.
On Easter Saturday, April 23, a beautiful spring day in Southern Arizona we celebrated his funeral rites here at Santa Rita Abbey. Fr. Mark Scott, OCSO, our chaplain for Lent and Easter, offered the funeral Mass at 9:00 a.m. Burial followed immediately in the “Monks’ Corner” of our cemetery.
Early Years
Oluf was born in Viborg, Denmark in 1931 to Svend Koester and Elna Theodora Frederikke Larsen, the youngest of five children. His father was a senior high school teacher. After graduating from high school, Oluf did his required period of service in the Danish military. He then attended teachers’ training college and became a primary school teacher. Olaf became a Catholic around the age of thirty, and sometime in the 1960’s, he entered the Benedictine lay community of Kloster Erlach in Austria. In the monastery he took the name Brother Lawrence.
Kloster Erlach and the Move to Arizona
Kloster Erlach was a community of lay brothers founded by Abbot James Straif in Austria and inspired by the Rule of St. Benedict. Theirs was a simple life of prayer, lectio divina, and manual labor. The original monastery was established in Niederwaldkirchen, Austria, where the monks turned a dilapidated farm house into a beautiful monastic cloister.
Seeking more solitude, the small community moved to southern Arizona in 1980. Br. Lawrence was among a group of six monks led by Abbot James. They started their new Benedictine Monastery of Erlac in Casa Blanca Canyon, Sonoita, just fifteen miles from us. Three of the founding monks eventually returned to Austria, but Br. Lawrence, along with Abbot James and Br. Pachomius (Kurt) Pirmanschegg, put down deep roots here. Like a true Benedictine monk, Br. Lawrence put nothing before the Work of God and lived by the work of his hands; that is to say, he delighted in private prayer, in singing the Psalms with his brothers, and in the quiet work of gardening, maintaining the monastery buildings, and tending to their numerous dogs.
2020-2022
Abbot James passed away in 2005 and was succeeded by Br. Pachomius. After Abbot Pachomius passed away in 2020, the monastery had to be closed. Br. Lawrence was moved to an apartment at a senior independent living facility in Tucson. It was difficult for him to leave his monastic home of 40 years, but Br. Lawrence was a monk of deep faith, and he accepted it as God’s will. He made up his mind to be happy in his new surroundings. Unfortunately, because of Covid restrictions, his many friends from southern Arizona were unable to visit him. At first, Covid restrictions severely limited his contact even with his new neighbors within the facility. As restrictions eased, however, he made new friends among the other residents and the staff. He often called us just to say hello and to tell us how happy and grateful he was.
He was doing quite well until he came down with pneumonia in late January this year. At first he responded well to hospital treatment, but his condition soon worsened. He accepted his approaching death with the joy of one who has longed all his life to see the face of God. Rest in peace, dear Brother Lawrence!
Read M. Vicki’s eulogy for Br. Lawrence