Santuario di San Gabriele
Isola del Gran Sasso (TE)

Gabriel Possenti was born in Assisi, Italy on March 1, 1838.  In 1856, after having a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Gabriel entered the Passionist House of Morovalle, Italy in 1856.

In the 1860 battle of Pesaro, Italy Giuseppe Garibaldi's Piedmontese army defeated the soldiers of Pope Pius IX's army.  Afterwards, several contingents of the Papal forces left the main body of the troops and proceeded to terrorize the countryside of the Marche region as far south as Abruzzo.   A few dozen entered Isola del Gran Sasso, where Gabriel Possenti served as a seminarian. When the commotion caused by the gang reached the monastery, Gabriel asked the monastery rector if he could go try and quell the disturbance.  The rector said yes.

Possenti found the gang about to rape a young woman and ordered them to set her free.  They refused to obey and Possenti yanked two pistols (likely American .36 caliber Colt revolvers) from the brigands.  Just then a lizard happened to run across the road whereupon the young seminarian took aim, fired and killed it with one shot.  He turned his weapons toward the gang who, to no one's surprise, took off and left the village.

Saint Gabriel died on February 27, 1862. Word of his greatness spread quickly.  Many faithful people made pilgrimages to his tomb.  Word of several miracles arose.  The Sacred Congregation of Rites determined at least two of them were valid, these being the instantaneous cure of Giovanni Cerro from severe arthritis and the recovery of Mr. Aloysio Parisi from an abdominal rupture.

In 1891, an official investigation into the life of Gabriel Possenti was carried out by  ecclesiastical authorities of Terni, Italy. In 1896, Pope Leo XIII proposed formal cause of Gabriel's canonization. He was beatified by Pope St. Pius X on May 31, 1908. The date of his canonization was set for May in 1913 but had to be delayed because of the approaching World War One.  He was proclaimed a Saint in May, 1920 by Pope Benedict XV

The most popular religious destination in Abruzzo, visited by over one and one half million people every year, the Sanctuary honors this franciscan friar who died of tuberulosis at only 24 years of age.  He had spent his last years in a convent on the Gran Sasso founded by St. Francis from Assisi in 1215 and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The local population refused to move the body of Gabriele to Spoleto, his hometown.  In 1970 a new sanctuary was built, which can accomodate 10,000 people. In recent year a custom has been introduced in which students in their last high school grade come here to seek the Saint's protection 100 days before final exams.

In recent years a number of American writers have taken an interest in the life of Saint Gabriel.   A book about the life of Saint Gabriel, Gun Saint, was recently written by John Michael Snyder with the backing and support of the National Rifle Association.  He writes, "...By naming St. Gabriel Possenti officially the Patron of Handgunners, the Vatican could hold up this holy man as an example of the proper use of handguns.  This would underscore the good purposes to which these inanimate objects can be and often are put....(Saint Gabriel) used a handgun to rescue an entire village full of peaceful, law-abiding people from the grip of a renegade band of soldier/terrorists."  Mr. Snyder has appealed to the Holy See and been in touch with the saint's great nephew, Dr. Francesco Possenti, that they might support his efforts to have Gabriel recognized as the patron saint of handguns and shooters. 

 Abruzzo Vacation