Lentorama 2018: Second String Saints

Day 28: Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin

Francesco Possenti was the 11th of 13 children, and while he had a reputation for charity and piety as a young man he showed no interest in religious life. He was poised to follow his father into government work, and was also (and perhaps better) known for his attention to his looks and his dancing.

Things were slated to take a turn when he took ill and promised to enter the religious life if he recovered. He did recover, but didn't change his vocation. A similar pledge also went unheeded when he narrowly avoided getting shot during a hunting trip. A second bout of illness brought the same pledge, and this time he actually started the process to join the Jesuits after he healed, but it was never completed.

It was a cholera epidemic that killed a sister that finally drove Francesco into the religious life, when he claimed to hear a voice during a procession of an icon of Mary asking why he continued to live in the world. Despite the best efforts of his father, Francesco joined the Passionists (who gave him the name Gabriel). He showed great promise, both academically and spiritually, but apparently not physically, as he developed a case of tuberculosis.  He would succumb to it before being ordained.

A couple of miracle cures were forwarded as evidence for his canonization, which occurred in 1920. The Passionist monastery in which he was buried (which had been abandoned for a time) developed a shrine for Gabriel, which became a popular pilgrimage site, especially among local youth who go there 100 days before graduation from high school to pray for good scores on their final exams. Even so, he wasn't popular enough to keep on the general calendar.

On a side note, there is a movement to have Gabriel named the patron saint of handgunners, stemming from a story that he saved the village where his monastery is located from a marauding band due to his proficiency with hand guns. I guess we really can let God sort them out?