Product Description

"Give me chastity and self-restraint, but not just right now."
—The Confessions of Saint Augustine

"Jesus instructed us to forgive those who have wronged us seventy times seven times," Brother Vito Fortunato teaches the boys in his high school religion class, but it's Vito himself who has the most trouble with forgiveness: trying to forgive the Church, the gay community, and most of all, himself. Just a few months from his final vows as a Brother in the Catholic Church, Vito finds himself at a crossroads, torn between his spirituality and his sexuality as a fully out and proud gay man. Will a summer of volunteer work at an AIDS center in San Francisco—and a love affair with Gabriel, a recently divorced landscaper—help Vito decide his calling—and his future?

Seventy Times Seven is a poignant, sexy, funny, and romantic novel set in the early 1990s about a young man's struggle to integrate his religious beliefs with his sexual desires. The gap between sexuality and spirituality is punctuated throughout the novel with quotes from the Scripture, and from song lyrics from Prince and Madonna, artists who merged the two worlds in provocative and groundbreaking fashion. Vito struggles too, with the idealism that drives his desire to change the archaic ways of the Catholic Church and its views on AIDS and homosexuality.

An excerpt from Seventy Times Seven: "Come on, let's go in," Tim implored outside the Christopher Street video store. "It'll be a riot. I know you're a Brother, but you don't have to do anything, just watch. But, whatever you do, don't make me laugh. They're hardcore in there."

Tim has always been able to persuade me to take risks. He took me into my first gay bar, Uncle Charlie's in the Village, when I was seventeen years old (the legal drinking age in New York was eighteen at the time, so we didn't look out of place). Two years later, we snorted coke off of his Barney's credit card in the bathroom of the Roxy. He later was a part of my first threesome experience with some guy we met at the Spike. There was one risk, however, that Tim was unsuccessful in persuading me to take, and that was leaving religious life. Taking me into the video store that night required little effort on his part.

Sal Sapienza's first novel, Seventy Times Seven, is an entertaining and enlightening look at the struggle many gay men experience as their try to reconcile their religion with their sexual natures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #712900 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 261 pages

Review
"An intriguing look into current-day religious life." -- Toby Johnson, PhD, Author of Gay Spirituality: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness; Past Editor of White Crane: A Journal of Gay Men's Spirituality

"Erotic, illuminating, intimate, and witty, this book reconciles two worlds: sexuality and spirituality." -- Scott Bailey, Author of Hide-n-Seek, Airing My House, and The Hairy Legs of God

About the Author
Salvatore Sapienza is a former Marist Brother in the Catholic Church. He has also written several cover stories for The Gay and Lesbian Times and has appeared as an actor in several films, including Runaway Jury, Mr. 3000, and A Love Song for Bobby Long. This is his first novel.

Customer Reviews

Outstanding first novel looks at life, love and religion
At a time when the debate about gay priests is still far from settled, first time author Salvatore Sapienza spins a timely story about a 27 year old gay man who is also a member of the Catholic clergy, but as a brother teaching religion in a Queens NY high school. Brother Victor Fortunato has some doubts as to whether his vocation can coexist with his nonsecular life, in which he still enjoys partying at gay bars with his friends. Openly gay since he was a teenager, Vito has been honest with his superior in the Divinity Brothers about his orientation, who has tried to convince Vito that, even though he has not technically violated his vows, his chosen nonsecular activities are bound to be hurting his ability to commit himself entirely to his vocation. Vito doesn't see it that way, enjoys teaching and serving God, and doesn't want to lose either aspect of his life, although he suspects that his superior may be correct.

Vito looks forward to that summer, when a volunteer assignment at an AIDS service center in San Francisco would provide a change of scenery and a time to put his life in perspective, before taking his final vows that fall. Everything he sees and hears, everyone he meets (including a lesbian former nun) tells Vito to "live life" but don't clarify his vision of what that life should be. But after he meets Gabe, a recently divorced man who is also volunteering at the AIDS center that summer, the picture starts to come into focus.

A remarkably intelligent, poignant, sexy, amusing, romantic and entertaining tale for all, which also brilliantly illustrates and analyzes some of the dilemmas facing the Catholic Church (and religions in general) trying to be relevant and supportive in today's world! Not surprisingly, the book is at least semi-autobiographical, as the author is a former Marist teaching brother at a Queens high school, who left the order and currently runs a gay bed-and-breakfast in Saugatuck MI with his lover. The book may have hit me on a personal level as well, as I am the product of twelve years of Catholic education, including the last four at a Marist-run high school, although my tenure was a good decade before the author's time. But I see the book's appeal as pretty much universal, and recommend it highly.

The Church and Us


Sapienza, Salvatore. Seventy Times Seven. New York: Harrington Park Press, 2006.

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride



Seventy Times Seven, Salvatore Sapienza's first novel explores the Catholic religion and homosexuality. The main character is a Catholic brother and a teacher and his story is told by a real life former brother and an openly gay man. It is set in the early 1990s and we find Brother Vito Fortunato close to his final vows as a brother in the Catholic church. He is torn between his spirituality and his gay sexuality. While teaching catechism, he struggles with his own issues of forgiveness--forgiving Mother Church, forgiving the homosexual community but most of all forgiving himself. Yet there was that summer when he volunteered at a San Francisco AIDS center and fell in love with Gabriel, a recently divorced landscaper, and this has caught Vito between sexual identity and his personal idealism. It takes him on the path of attempting to change the views of the church on homosexuality and Aids.

Sapienza, himself, is a former Catholic brother of the Marist Order who taught high school English. He worked alongside Father Mychal Judge, the chaplain to the New York Fire Department who died in the 9/11 attacks. Included in the book is Sapienza's essay on his experiences with Father Judge.

The title for the book comes from the Biblical passage that Jesus taught us to forgive those who have wronged us "seventy times seven times." While Vito teaches this ideal of forgiveness he realizes that he must also adhere to this adage. How does one integrate his religious beliefs with his sexual desires? And this is what punctuates the novel all the way through. He does this by not only using quotes from Scripture but with song lyrics from Madonna and Prince--two artists who merged these two worlds both provocatively and in a groundbreaking manner. Alongside that problem Vito also struggles with an idealism that drives him to change the ways of the Church.

Vito yearns for a quiet gay life--one of more than pride parades and bars. He wants to celebrate his desire for a same-sex meaningful relationship. His candor is real, yet delicate and his prose tells the story of salvation. There are twists and turns and the reader is engrossed from start to finish. And the story is moving, touching those parts of the gay psyche that makes us proud that Sapienza has bothered to write his story. The book took me to places I have never been and the prose made the trip a pleasure. The conflicts are real, present, and important. This is not a book about religion but about the dignity of man. The insight that the book gives, allows us to embrace ourselves and is this not what the spirit tells us to do?

When I first began reading, I thought that I would be reading about a closeted priest who in his struggles to accept himself led a life of pain and shame. But I was wrong. Being gay is not the struggle here. Rather it is the incorporation of his sexual nature to his spirituality. The men Vito meets denounce religion, just as the Church does homosexuality. The period in which the novel is set was that time when sexuality and spirituality were juxtaposed. Many went dancing shirtless at night and to church the next morning. Sexual beings could also be spiritual--there is no mutual exclusivity here. One would think that a book of this nature would be a heavy read but it is far from that. It is a delight and shows us that faith in the human spirit can rule out any adversary.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. When I finished it, I felt renewed and cleansed and that I had just read a really fascinating book. We have had so much about the abuses of the Catholic church that to me it was a special treat to read about someone who knowingly and consciously went against it. Although one man can't do it all, one can crack the door open.

AMOS LASSEN

Illuminating, exhilarating and ultimately fulfilling!
Seventy Times Seven is a wonderful book. I may not be a Christian but I do know enough about Christianity and Catholic restrictions to appreciate and enjoy this engrossing and moving story.

Vito is such an appealing character that I wish such a person does exist. Maybe he does. His selfless desire to help others and his struggle to find the right balance between his religion and who he really is and to know what God truly wants from him is one absorbing and stirring read.

Ultimately this story is about the celebration of life and love and Vito's final decision just reflects that. I look forward to more from this talented writer. Highly recommended.