Br. Kolbe Novey was born in Naperville, Illinois in 1997. Shortly thereafter, his family returned to the farmlands of Illinois. He graduated from a local high school in 2015. He found his home at the University of Dallas until he graduated in 2019. Afterwards, he spent a year as a missionary teacher in the Bronx. In 2020 he returned to Irving, where he enjoyed a brief and wonderful teaching career at Great Hearts Irving. He joined Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey in August of 2023. He made his temporary profession of vows on Sunday, August 18, 2024. He currently teaches Latin at the Cistercian Preparatory School.

Br. Kolbe remembers feeling a strong call to the priesthood while he worked as a missionary in the Bronx. It was not until a couple years later, however, when he returned to Irving, that he began to discern a religious vocation seriously. In the summer of 2022, he went on a month-long pilgrimage across Europe, making a pivotal stop in Zirc, Hungary. When he returned, he discerned that the Lord was calling him to Cistercian Abbey. The deep joy he received from teaching, and the variety of those experiences, especially at Great Hearts, strongly contributed to his discernment of Cistercian.

Br. Kolbe likes organization, literature, exercise, and cooking.