Feast of St. Gabriel Possenti

February 27 is the Feast Day of St. Gabriel Possenti. The Saint is honored as "the gun Saint" due to the marksmanship skills he is said to have displayed when rescuing his Italian village from a band of violent soldiers in 1860. Tradition states that as a young seminarian, Possenti faced the marauders after grabbing revolvers from two soldiers. He took aim and accurately shot a lizard that was running across the road. Impressed, the soldiers left the town.

The St. Gabriel Possenti Society was created for the purpose of promoting St. Gabriel Possenti as the Patron Saint of Handgunners. The society also promotes the study of the historical, philosophical and theological bases for the doctrine of self-defense.

When young Gabriel joined the Passionists in 1856 he was given the name "Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows." He died from tuberculosis at the age of 23 in 1862 and was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. I was pleased when our parish was recently presented with a relic of St. Gabriel Possenti.

A previous post on St. Gabriel Possenti, with more details of his meeting with the soldiers can be found here.