Two incidents in St. Gabriel Possenti's life are particularly notable for their evidence of manly virtue. The first took place when the saint was still young. He had been traveling through the woods to visit his uncle when a man approached him along the path.
The man proposed that the two travel together for companionship. St. Gabriel Possenti agreed. As they passed an abandoned shack, the stranger accosted the saint, suggesting actions for which God obliterated Sodom and Gomorrah.
"You fiend," St. Gabriel cried as he brandished his hunting knife. "If you touch me I'll stick you through."
The assailant fled without further prompting.
There are times when a Catholic must turn the other cheek. Yet St. Gabriel shows us there are other times when a Catholic must stand and fight. How many of our young people could be saved from sexual predators by being armed with the example of Saint Gabriel?
Which brings up the second incident in which St. Gabriel Possenti demonstrated the virtues of Catholic manhood. Again it involved a potential rape, but this time the victims were a couple of young virgins. The perpetrators were two soldiers-turned-brigands who were part of a larger gang pillaging the village.
Rather than hide in the monastery like the rest of the clergy, St. Gabriel Possenti approached the rapists and grabbed their revolvers. With a pistol in each hand, he ordered the brutes to unhand the crying maidens.
The bandits laughed. The rest of their gang came over and mocked St. Gabriel's cassock bearing our Lord's Sacred Heart. They pointed out that a single seminarian was no match for over a dozen battle-hardened soldiers.
Just then a small lizard dashed between the saint and the brigands. With a pinch of the trigger, the seminarian shot the lizard dead. "The next one will be through your heart," he told the gang's leader.
The soldiers let go of the young ladies, returned the stolen loot and extinguished the fires they had lit, then fled the village. They knew better than to test the manly virtue of this man of God. For St. Gabriel Possenti did not abuse his strength, but rather he used it to defend the weak against unjust threats of violence.
That second story is likely the source of the movement to have St Gabriel Possenti declared the patron saint of handgunners. But as the article linked to denotes, he provides an excellent example of Christian manhood: caring, protective of the less fortunate and seeking to do right. He's a fine example for all Christian men.
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