St. Gabriel Possenti: "Patron Saint of Handgunners"

No, I'm not kidding. Or at least, these folks aren't.

From the St. Gabriel Possenti Society website:

The St. Gabriel Possenti Society promotes the public recognition of St. Gabriel Possenti, including his Vatican designation as Patron Saint of Handgunners.

St. Gabriel Possenti was a Catholic seminarian whose marksmanship and proficiency with handguns single-handedly saved the village of Isola, Italy from a band of 20 terrorists in 1860.

The Possenti Society offers a variety of materials related to St. Gabriel Possenti and a biblical understanding of self-defense.

So why the pistol and lizard in their emblem? Well, the story goes:

In 1860, a band of soldiers from the army of Garibaldi entered the mountain village of Isola, Italy. They began to burn and pillage the town, terrorizing its inhabitants.

Possenti, with his seminary rector's permission, walked into the center of town, unarmed, to face the terrorists. One of the soldiers was dragging off a young woman he intended to rape when he saw Possenti and made a snickering remark about such a young monk being all alone.

Possenti quickly grabbed the soldier's revolver from his belt and ordered the marauder to release the woman. The startled soldier complied, as Possenti grabbed the revolver of another soldier who came by. Hearing the commotion, the rest of the soldiers came running in Possenti's direction, determined to overcome the rebellious monk.

At that moment a small lizard ran across the road between Possenti and the soldiers. When the lizard briefly paused, Possenti took careful aim and struck the lizard with one shot. Turning his two handguns on the approaching soldiers, Possenti commanded them to drop their weapons. Having seen his handiwork with a pistol, the soldiers complied. Possenti ordered them to put out the fires they had set, and upon finishing, marched the whole lot out of town, ordering them never to return. The grateful townspeople escorted Possenti in triumphant procession back to the seminary, thereafter referring to him as "the Savior of Isola".

Aspiring Catholic movie makers, I think you've found your plot. (But read on....)

If you want to understand the society a bit better, a look at their links page reveals a list of resources on Saint Gabriel Possenti ... as well as "Firearm links." You can also buy St. Gabriel Possenti tokens and the founder of the society exhibits materials (including the Saint's biography entitled "Gun Saint") at NRA meetings. The "What you can do" page recommends distributing the tokens at "gun shows and in gun stores" or "deposit[ing] them in church collection baskets."

Most recently, the interdenominational society presented an award to the woman who fired upon a "madman" who killed two worshippers at New Life Chuch in Colorado Springs last week.

Personally, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the petition to designate St. Gabriel Possenti the "Patron Saint of Handgunners" to get approved.

As for the legend of St. Gabriel's gunslinging ways, it appears to be just that.

The Wikipedia author, for instance, is very skeptical (and cites sources):

A campaign is under way in the United States to have Saint Gabriel declared patron of hand-gunners. This is in reference to an apocryphal story which has the saint rescuing the town of Isola from marauding bandits, using the skills from hunting he had learnt as a boy. Whilst this story is mentioned in one biography of the saint,[15] the author admits that some of the accounts in his book were invented to “enliven” the story.[16] No account of the alleged event is present in another independently researched biography of the saint[17][18][19][20], in particular early sources of the saint’s life[21][22][23] making such an incident seem unlikely. Moreover at the time of the alleged incident (1860) Gabriel was in the later stages of tuberculosis making such a strenuous exercise impossible for one in such a condition.[24]

His Catholic Encyclopedia entry makes no mention of the tale.

Fr. Robert F. McNamara reproduces the story but adds:

"Recently, some pistol fans have asked the present pope to name St. Gabriel Possenti the patron saint of pistol-bearers. The Passionists have rightly rejected such a thought. Even if Gabriel knew how to use a gun in self-defense, he would surely have deplored showing any fondness for a weapon that has been used to assassinate Pope John Paul II and many other victims of modern terrorism."

The God, Guns & Glory blog isn't so discerning.

Catholic Enyclopedia notes:

It is the express wish of Leo XIII and Pius X that he should be regarded as the chief patron of the youth of today, and especially as the patron of young religious, both novices and professed, in all that concerns their interior lives.

... for reasons other than his excellent markmenship, I'd wager.

Still, we can certainly pray to St. Gabriel Possenti for gun safety.

(And maybe for success in lizard hunting?)

[photo 1: St. Gabriel Possenti Society.]
[photo 2: The Shot. Copyright by John Michael Snyder.]