Saint of the Day † (February 27) ✠ St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows ✠

 † Saint of the Day †

(February 27)

✠ St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows ✠

Confessor:

Born: March 1, 1838

Assisi, Papal States (Now Italy)

Died: February 27, 1862 (Aged 23)

Isola del Gran Sasso, Kingdom of Italy

Venerated in: Roman Catholic Church

Beatified: May 31, 1908

Pope Pius X

Canonized: May 13, 1920

Pope Benedict XV

Major shrine: San Gabriele, Teramo, Abruzzi

Feast: February 27

Patronage: Students, Youth, Clerics, Seminarians, Abruzzi

Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows (Born Francesco Possenti) was an Italian Passionist clerical student. Born to a professional family, he gave up ambitions of a secular career to enter the Passionist Congregation. His life in the monastery was not extraordinary, yet he followed the rule of the congregation perfectly and was known for his great devotion to the sorrows of the Virgin Mary. He died from tuberculosis at the age of 23 in Isola del Gran Sasso, in the province of Teramo. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.

Born Francesco Possenti in 1838, Possenti was baptized in the same font as Saint Francis of Assisi. During his early life, Possenti had much in common with the “troubadour” of Assisi and was a popular young man at parties.

While attending the Jesuit College at Spoleto, he embraced whatever kind of entertainment he could find. Later Possenti wrote in a letter, “I assure you that, if I had remained in the world, it seems certain to me that I would not have saved my soul. Tell me, could anyone have indulged in more amusements than I?”

He especially enjoyed the dancing scene and was nicknamed “the dancer.” His friends also called him il Damerino (“the ladies’ man”) for his popularity among women.

Yet, God never stopped pursuing Possenti. Twice Possenti fell ill and was miraculously cured. Both times he promised God that he would enter religious life and both times quickly forgot about it. Then one day during a procession he looked up at a banner of Our Lady Help of Christians. He sensed Our Lady was looking right at him and heard the voice, “Keep your promise.”

This cut right through Possenti’s heart and he resolved to follow through and enter a religious order. He entered the Passionist Order on September 21, 1856, and was given the name Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Gabriel threw himself completely into a life of holiness and did whatever it took to draw closer to God. However, he wasn’t graced with extraordinary spiritual gifts or experiences. He simply lived fully the life of a Passionist and strove for perfection. Gabriel is known for writing, “Our perfection does not consist of doing extraordinary things but of doing the ordinary well.”

The intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

On August 22, 1856, while attending the procession of the “Holy Icon”, a Marian image venerated in Spoleto, the Virgin Mary spoke to his heart in order to in inviting him with urgency, “You are not called to follow the ways of the world. What are you doing, then, is it? Enter the religious life” (Fuentes, p. 208). On September 10, 1856, he entered the Passionist novitiate in Morrovalle (Macerata) and took the religious name, Gabriel. He was 18 years old. His surrender was with his whole heart, and the religious life made him happy: “The happiness and joy that I enjoy within these walls are unimaginable” (Writings, p. 185). His greatest loves were Jesus Crucified, the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary.

Death:

In the convent of Isola when the first rays of the sun were entering his cell on the morning of February 27, 1862, Gabriel was consumed in an ecstasy of love and surrounded by the religious that was crying by his bed, he abandoned the earth and went to heaven, invited by the Virgin Mary. His community highly regarded him for his sanctity.

Thirty years later, on October 17, 1892, the process was begun to recognize him as a Saint, as there was already a devotion to him among the faithful and many miracles had occurred. Gabriel was eventually beatified in 1908 and canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV and declared a co-patron of the Catholic youth of Italy in 1926, and the principal patron of Abruzzo in 1959.

He is known as a special patron of young people.

Saint Gemma Golgani, upon reading the life of Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, felt a strong spiritual tie with him and he appeared to her on many occasions in order to guide her and console her.