By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
For the beginning of Advent 2020, in the midst of a stressful and challenging pandemic year, I sought refuge. I found it in one of the most calming and comforting places of my youth—a Catholic bookstore.
A few weeks ago, I visited the Magdalene religious goods store in Salt Lake City. The Magdalene, named after the patron saint for the local diocese, is owned by Jacque and Tim Smithe, some old friends from when our daughters played basketball together. I spent many a happy boyhood day in similar bookstores.
For several years, my Trappist monk friends operated a book/gift shop at their Ogden Valley monastery. Although I was just a kid, they let me work at their store in the 1970s. I dusted, cleaned, stocked the shelves, and even rang up a few customer sales of the popular Trappist honey, bread, and eggs.
During my last visit there in August 2017, just days before the monastery closed, I bought what now is a treasured part of our home—one of Brother Nicholas Prinster’s handmade wooden clocks (see: The Bells of Brother Nicholas).
My other favorite Utah Catholic bookstore was about 50 miles away from the Huntsville abbey, on Main Street in downtown Salt Lake City. Our family friend, a Paulist priest named Father Fred Draeger, ran St. Paul’s Chapel and Paraclete Gift Shop (see: Remembering St. Paul’s Chapel). We visited him there often.
We would attend mass in the small chapel, decorated almost entirely in red, and browse the store’s shelves. Father Draeger often suggested books for me to read and usually handed one to me as a “loaner” that he really never expected to see again. After these visits, he took us to lunch nearby at another Utah institution, Lamb’s Cafe (see: The plum blossoms will scatter). For almost 35 years, I have practiced law at an office just steps from both sites.
Peaceful memories of these beloved stores filled my heart and mind when I visited the Smithes’ shop in November 2020. Soft choir music and votive candle aromatherapy greeted me as I entered the small, cozy store. The inventory includes all the usual Catholic goods—handmade beaded rosaries, colorful statues of angels, books, medals, baptism and first communion garments, and patron saint cards.
Jacque and Tim have added their own special and unique touches too. One wall features paintings and ceramic works by local artists. A wooden shelf houses a book exchange, with donations to the local Carmelite nuns suggested as a rental fee. A glass cabinet displays nick knacks gifted from the estates of local Catholic families. My favorite heirloom there? Three small statues of monks smiling while bowling!
The Magdalene store has a small prayer and reflection room, as well as an airy gathering space with soft couches and cushioned chairs—ideal for book clubs, discussion groups, and chats with visiting authors. Maybe if/when COVID-19 relents, the Smithes will be kind enough to host a meet-and-greet and signing there for my new book about the Utah monks, Monastery Mornings.
The Smithes’ bookstore reminds me of the shops I loved as a child. (Jacque knew Father Draeger’s store too, and says it always felt like “a warm blanket” wrapped around her.) In addition to its comforting atmosphere, however, the Magdalene store embodies some of the most intriguing and magical aspects of our shared Catholic faith.
The Catholic priest/writer Andrew Greeley explains in The Catholic Imagination how “Catholics live in an enchanted world, a world of statues and Holy water, stained glass and votive candles, saints and religious medals, rosary beads and holy pictures. But these Catholic paraphernalia are mere hints of a deeper and more pervasive religious sensibility which inclines Catholics to see the Holy lurking in creation. As Catholics, we find our houses and our world haunted by a sense that the objects, events, and persons of daily life are revelations of grace.”
The Magdalene packs all that grace into a couple hundred square feet, and the grace embraces you the moment you enter the door. The Smithes probably won’t get wealthy operating their charming store. They think of it as a mission, a service, and a labor of love. They sure enriched my Advent, however, when they welcomed me there.
*Mike O’Brien is a writer and attorney living in Salt Lake City, Utah. His book Monastery Mornings, about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, will be published by Paraclete Press in August 2021.
