THE SECRET SAINT ANTHONY PRAYER

Nostalgia takes center stage in Donze’s bittersweet novel about a parochial school reunion.

Former classmates at St. Anthony of Padua elementary school in Springhaven, Pennsylvania, come together to organize a gathering 55 years after their graduation in 1964. The process of planning for the event brings back memories of childhood friendships, rivalries, infatuations, and heartbreaks at this Catholic institution, named after a saint who receives prayers to restore lost objects and loved ones. This book is firmly rooted in a community defined by a liturgical calendar, celebrations of Christmas and Easter, the presence of priests and nuns, and ritual observances such as Mass, communion, confession, fasting during Lent, and choir practice. The worldbuilding is rich, flavorful, and convincing, in part because the author draws from his own experience of attending a Catholic school in Philadelphia's suburbs. Two relationships stand out in the ensemble cast: The bond that develops between Paul Perdu and Ronald “Biggsy” Biggs, due to their shared responsibilities as altar boys, contrasts well with the clandestine, fleeting interactions between Paul and Mary Liz, skillfully depicting how the church discourages healthy mingling between people of the opposite gender. The cloistered environment also allows the author to look at how gossip can become a form of meaning-making in the absence of open dialogue, especially because teenagers have fertile imaginations. Donze’s critical commentary on the evolution of the church as a religious institution is built into the plot; the reunion is being organized because the school building is closing down due to “out-migration from Catholicism due to the ongoing fallout from the diocesan priest sex scandals.” In keeping with the school setting, the prose style is chatty, funny, and peppered with expletives at times, but it might have benefited from tighter editing in portions that tend to ramble.

A lighthearted look at how the passage of time affects one’s view of the past.