His parents were József Nagy, a stonemason, and Gizella Nagy. His brother, József Nagy (d. 1992), was a priest in the Diocese of Vác. He began his secondary school studies in Pásztó, then attended grades II–IV in Eger and grades V–VIII in Budapest at the Cistercian school. He entered the order on August 29, 1934. He took his first vows on August 30, 1935. He studied in Zirc from 1935 to 1937 and at the Pontificia Università San Tommaso D’Aquino in Rome from 1937 to 1942. He took his perpetual vows on August 30, 1940. He was ordained a priest in Rome by Luca Ermenegildo Pasetto, OFM Cap., titular bishop, on June 13, 1941. In 1943, he earned a doctorate in theology. In 1945, he was sent to Rome to study canon law, from which he did not return home. From 1953 to 1988, he served as the foreign vicar of the abbot of Zirc. On January 5, 1964, he was consecrated abbot with the assistance of Sighard Kleiner, Alfred Hoering, OSB (Corpus Christi), and Michael Lensing, OSB (New Subiaco). His abbatial motto is: Ardere et lucere!

De tractatu de miseria humanae conditionis Innocentii papae III. Bp. 1943. (doktori disszertáció)
De scriptoribus christianis intractatu De miseria humanae conditionis Innocenti papae III. In. Primitae 1939-1949. 55–60. (kézirat)