Kotula graduated from Protestant gymnasium in Cieszyn and philosophical high school in Pressburg.

In 1848 he graduated in law from the University of Vienna, where he met Paweł Stalmach, with whom he later cooperated closely back in Cieszyn Silesia.

In the same year Kotula together with Stalmach participated in Slavic Congress in Prague, where they were protesting against including Cieszyn Poles in the Czecho-Slovak section.

He was secretary of Czytelnia Ludowa (People's Library), member of several organizations and one of the founders of Macierz Szkolna Księstwa Cieszyńskiego (School Association of the Duchy of Cieszyn).

Kotula was interested in botany - he was collecting and conserving plants, mushrooms, beetles and butterflies.