THE ANNIVERSARY OF ST GABRIEL POSSENTI'S CALL TO RELIGIOUS LIFE - 22 AUGUST

 

THE ANNIVERSARY OF ST GABRIEL POSSENTI'S CALL TO RELIGIOUS LIFE

Francis Possenti was a popular, fun-loving eighteen-year-old two weeks from his graduation in Spoleto, Italy, when on August 22, 1856, he attended a procession in honour of the city’s most prized image of the Madonna. As the icon of Mary passed Francis, his eyes met hers, and he heard in his heart a voice telling him, “Francis, why do you tarry in the world? Arise, make haste, and become a religious.”

"FRANCIS, WHY DO YOU TARRY IN THE WORLD?"

Immediately, Francis resolved to enter the Passionist Order. At his profession, he took the name Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.

"OUR LADY'S BOWER"

As a Passionist, he was distinguished by his extraordinary devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her sorrows at the foot of the Cross filled his thoughts. Brother Gabriel took a private vow to promulgate devotion to Mary. 

In a corner of the monastery garden, on a plot he called “Our Lady’s Bower”, he grew flowers exclusively for the adornment of her shrine. 

"A BEAUTIFUL IMAGE IS A TREASURE, BECAUSE IT FOSTERS DEVOTION"

He believed that images of the Blessed Virgin should be beautiful and attractive, observing, “A beautiful image is a treasure, because it fosters devotion.”

After contracting tuberculosis, he died at the age of twenty-four. Gabriel is venerated as a patron of young people.

“Help me, O my God, to correct myself.”

(St Gabriel Possenti)