(* 4 February 1916 in Budapest; † 1 July 1994 in Irving, Texas) was an American monk, historian and university professor born in Hungary.
Julius (Gyula) Lékai was a student at the Cistercian school (Budai-Ciszterci-Szent Imre-Gymnasium) in Budapest and entered the noviciate at Zirc Abbey in 1934.
Lekai's research addressed aspects of Cistercian history which were rarely covered before his time, such as Baroque abbeys in France immediately before the French Revolution and Cistercian involvement at great European universities, most notably in Paris.
He was able to reshape common perceptions of urban monks and feudal abbeys by applying concentrated analysis of archival sources.
His general history of the Cistercian Order (subtitled in a manner typical for Lekai Ideals and Reality) was the standard work for decades, going into several reprints and translations.