SAINT GABRIEL POSSENTI

(PATRON SAINT OF GUN OWNERS)

By Peter Vuono

   In 1860,the Italian town of Isola del Gran Sasso, was violently disrupted by a group of marauding soldiers called "Red Shirts". These men were volunteer mercenaries in the Army of revolutionary Guiseppe Garibaldi and came to the town as brigands. They stole whatever they wanted and were engaged in assaulting and raping women.

   At about the same time, a young 21 year old monk-Gabriel Possenti- was returning home from a journey. Seeing what was happening, the young monk- who would die two years later from tuberculosis- asked his superior if he could attempt to quell the violence. He went alone as all others were terrified by the "Red Shirts".

   By 1860, two Remington six shooters had been developed in America. However, in Italy, the hand gun of choice was a single shot flintlock. Possenti, without hesitation darted and grabbed two flintlocks from two different mercenaries.

   Garibaldi's soldiers laughed him to scorn. Here was a 21 year old diminutive monk who never fired a pistol threatening them. As one soldier dragged a woman away with intentions of raping her, a small lizard  walked in front of Possenti and the mercenaries. He fired the pistol cutting the lizard in two.

   Although he had only one shot left, the soldiers knew that the next shot would be fatal given the expert and miraculous marksmanship. The woman was unhanded and Possenti, marched the soldiers to the border of the town and ordered them never to return which they obeyed.

    Saint Gabriel would die two years later at age twenty-three. A miracle had occurred where a brave soul saved  a town without violence with two deadly weapons. 

It's not my intention to take any weapon away from someone. Nor is it my intention to entice you into picking one up. However, saint Gabriel has shown us that if everything is done with prudence, the guidance of the Lord and the safety and welfare of others in mind, that miracles will happen and we will all never get lost.

" I will attempt day by day to break my will into pieces. I want to do God's holy will, not my own!"- Saint Gabriel Possenti