Part III: A History of St. Anthony's Church

Patch started a 4-part series on the history of the Church of St. Anthony in Nanuet. Patch looked into the history of St. Anthony’s Church using information from Marie Hoose’s book Nanuet’s Heritage, a centennial publication about St. Anthony’s Church, “The Old Timers’ Notebook”(tales about St. Anthony’s Church) and interviews with Rev. Joseph J. Deponai, or Father Jerry, as he prefers to be called.

Saint Anthony's Church is a shrine church in honor of Saint Anthony of Padua. It was founded in 1898. The first article looked at The Beginning: 1896 – 1911 and A Fire & A New Start, the second looked at A New Name & Priest and Moving Forward & a Special Mass.

Starting a School

The great day of consecration had come and gone and the priesthood of St. Anthony’s settled down to the work at hand. In 1952, very concerned for his “little ones”, the children of his parish, Father Osterman decided that a school was needed. Plans were drawn up and in September of 1953 the doors of St Anthony’s Parochial School opened to 300 students. The first principal of the new school was Sister Assunta O.P., a member of the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, a teaching order.

Events moved rapidly for the Church and its priests. 1955 saw the opening of the Tappan Zee Bridge. This new bridge allowed a flood of commuters into Rockland County and one of the places they preferred to settle down in was Nanuet. It was at this time that St Augustine’s finally split off to go it alone—St. Augustine’s had been a “mission church” of St. Anthony’s for 54 years. Even though St. Anthony’s was straining at the seams, it was not until some years later that enlargement plans were proposed.

The school was also becoming overpopulated and in 1958 a new addition was added, bringing the capacity to 652, which was quickly reached.

Church affairs continued to run smoothly until 1962. It was in this year, on November 17, that the parishioners were told that that their beloved Father Frank Osterman had passed away.

Monsignor (which he became in 1954) Osterman had faithfully served his God, his Church and his parishioners for 22 years. Father Rader took over the job of acting shepherd for the sorrowful flock and in the summer of 1963, Monsignor A. Rigo was appointed pastor.

An Expansion

In 1965 the idea of expanding St. Anthony’s was again brought up, but one church problem led to another, including the death of Msgr. Rigo in the late 1960’s and these plans were again postponed.

By 1970, it was quite clear that St. Anthony’s must expand now or be forced to run Masses all day long on Sundays. In 1971 the modernistic annex was completed and dedication/consecration ceremonies were held. St Anthony’s was still a Shrine Church at this point, but it had also come into the modern age, showing a blending of the old and the new in its fieldstone Shrine Church and its polygonal glass and wood annex church.

The pastors at St. Anthony’s were:

• Msgr. John A. Rigo (1962-1967)
• Msgr. Henry Pregenser (1968 to1974)
• Msgr. Edmund Netter (1974-1986
• Msgr. William Reynolds (1986-June 2009)—He may be retired, but he still assists at Masses.
• Rev. Joseph J. Deponai (Father Jerry) is the current pastor. He took over in June of 2009.

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This is the third of a 4-part article series leading up to the Annual St. Anthony’s Feast on Sunday, June 10. Check back this Sunday morning for Part IV

Here’s a look at what each article will look at:

• The Beginning: 1896 – 1911 and A Fire & A New Start
• A New Name & Priest and Moving Forward & a Special Mass
• Starting a School and An Expansion
• Another Fire and St. Anthony’s Today