The Patron Saint of Handgunners

In light of recent events, it is hard to ignore the link that was dropped in my inbox on Friday by longtime JYB reader Pale Rider. The interdenominational Society of Saint Gabriel Possenti is trying to get him recognized as the Patron Saint of Handgunners. ("Him" being Saint Gabriel, not Pale Rider.) Interesting backstory on Saint Gabe:

In 1860, a band of soldiers from the army of Garibaldi entered the mountain village of Isola, Italy. They began to burn and pillage the town, terrorizing its inhabitants.

Possenti, with his seminary rector's permission, walked into the center of town, unarmed, to face the terrorists. One of the soldiers was dragging off a young woman he intended to rape when he saw Possenti and made a snickering remark about such a young monk being all alone.

Possenti quickly grabbed the soldier's revolver from his belt and ordered the marauder to release the woman. The startled soldier complied, as Possenti grabbed the revolver of another soldier who came by. Hearing the commotion, the rest of the soldiers came running in Possenti's direction, determined to overcome the rebellious monk.

At that moment a small lizard ran across the road between Possenti and the soldiers. When the lizard briefly paused, Possenti took careful aim and struck the lizard with one shot. Turning his two handguns on the approaching soldiers, Possenti commanded them to drop their weapons. Having seen his handiwork with a pistol, the soldiers complied. Possenti ordered them to put out the fires they had set, and upon finishing, marched the whole lot out of town, ordering them never to return. The grateful townspeople escorted Possenti in triumphant procession back to the seminary, thereafter referring to him as "the Savior of Isola".

Not bad, though I've seen my dad pick off a running lizard with a .22 Bearcat, and he's not even a deacon in the Church of Christ.

...no match for a good blaster at your side, kid...

But I digress. How about a very similar story to the one that played out in Colorado Springs--right down to the handgun vs. AK confrontation? One of the Society's past honorees did exactly that:

In July 1993, Charl, relying on his faith and a .38 caliber special revolver, caused a gang of terrorists to flee a church in Cape Town in what became known as the St. James Massacre. The terrorists were part of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of the Pan African Congress, a Marxist-Leninist group.

The terrorists, armed with grenades and AK-47’s, murdered 11 parishioners and wounded an additional 58 individuals. Charl, the only armed member of the congregation, fired five rounds with his handgun. He wounded one of the terrorists and the gang fled. His action apparently prevented the murder or injury of many more people.

The incident led Charl to become an even more ardent defender of the right to self-defense and of the right to keep and bear arms than he already had been. A member of the Anglican Church of South Africa, Charl is Assistant Director of Frontline Fellowship, which he describes as a trans-denominational missionary organization committed to spreading the message of Jesus Christ throughout Africa .

I'm not sure whether the Society is still in business, but if they are they may have a worthy new honoree in Miss Jeanne Assam.

Not sure how the New Life folks feel about patron saints and their intercessions; Ms. Assam was invoking the Holy Spirit directly as we Protestants tend to do*. But from an ecumenical standpoint this sounds like a thoroughly neat deal, and one based on a very sound principle, and those medallions sound like a useful reminder that Godly interventions aren't always accomplished with hugs and chamomile tea.

* I honestly don't know where I come down on the whole Saints and what they do issue. My raising has inclined to me toward parsimony in my theology, preferring to err on the side of believing too little instead of too much. My raising has also prejudiced me toward the preservation and reverence of old history and traditions. No wonder I'm such a mess. I suppose I would say that I think the lives of Saints are at the very least worthy of study and emulation.