Saint Spotlight: St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

I am very, very excited about this particular saint spotlight, because St. Gabriel just happens to be my favorite male saint and patron. Since I like telling stories, here is the story of how I "met" St. Gabriel Possenti.

When I was about 11, I won a game at a church All Saints' Day party. My prize was a very small picture of St. Gabriel. Soon after I lost this image, and forgot his name. I wouldn't recognize his image again for years, but I'm sure that he had been praying for me since that day, and maybe even before then. Fast forward to mid-January of 2013. At the time I was sick, so I was resting in bed reading a book I had received for Christmas only a few weeks before. It was called, "Modern Saints: Their Lives and Faces". As I read about the lives of great saints and holy people, one young man stuck out to me the most. His name was St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows. As soon as I saw his picture, I remembered my own small image from years ago. From there I learned of his intercession with my own patron, St. Gemma, and the rest is history.

"Our perfection does not consist of
doing extraordinary things, but to do
the ordinary well."

St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

Born: March 1st, 1838, Assisi, Italy

Died: February 27th, 1862, Gran Sasso, Kingdom of Italy

Occupation: Passionist seminarian 

Cause of holy death: At 24 years old, St. Gabriel died of tuberculosis before he could see his ordination. To the dismay of his novice master, he had previously prayed for the grace of a slow and early death, so that he could spiritually prepare himself.

He is a shining example to youth with religious vocations, because while he did put off his own religious vocation for some time, after Our Lady called him, he readily left his world of dancing, being fashionable, socializing and the sort, to fulfill his true calling, which was that of a religious brother. There are so many inspirations to draw to from his life; how he patiently fought for his vocation, the way he strived to perfect his state of life as a seminarian, but most of all, his love for Our Lady of Sorrows. St. Gabriel understood the pains of Our Lady, and the need to meditate upon them and compassionate with her. Through his ardent devotion to our Sorrowful Mother, St. Gabriel quickly reached the height of Christian perfection, and died a holy death. 

By loving Our Sorrowful Mother, not only do we sympathize with her dolors, but we also learn to see her beaten, battered Son through her own compassionate eyes; thus teaching us to better understand His dolorous Passion. By better understanding His Passion, we learn to greatly improve and heighten our love for Him, because we are no longer seeing the crucified Lord through our own eyes that are clouded with the effects of sin; but through the pure eyes of His most empathetic and loving mother, who witnessed the whole Passion in its real, full, achingly terrible and sanguinary entirety. 

Love Our Sorrowful Mother, who stood at the foot of the Holy Cross. Love her crucified Son, who by His Holy Cross, redeemed the world.

St. Gabriel Possenti, ora pro nobis,
Mater Dolorosa, ora pro nobis,

-Yvonne Gemma