St. Gabriel Passenti, the eleventh of thirteen children, born to an Italian middle class family in 1838, might be called the Little Flower of young men. His mother died when he was yet a child, but that was not an unusual thing for his time, his father was a government worker, and his family, though large for any time, was fairly solidly middle class. The Passentis did not stand out in their neighborhood and little Gabriel was a fairly ordinary kid. The only creditable note of his birth or childhood was that he was baptized in the same font as St. Francis of Asissi. There were no lights from heaven, no white bees hovering above his cradle; by all accounts, he was neither extraordinarily pious nor a notorious sinner, but he was well-liked. As an adolescent, he had a reputation for being a bit of a "flirt" and loved to dance. It was expected that he would follow his father in a middle-class job, settle down, and marry. But God had something else in mind.
When Gabriel was 14, he contracted a grave illness, and on the point of death, promised that if he were cured, he'd enter the Religious life. Almost miraculously, he recovered, and most surely, he was
grateful, but he didn't enter the Religious life. It's easy to second guess or forget those "rash" promises one makes in delirium, isn't it? But God doesn't forget. Before another year passed, Gabriel had narrowly escaped death in a freak hunting accident, one brother had died of illness, another had committed suicide, and before he could catch his breath, at the age of sixteen, Gabriel again fell ill.
Once again he promised to enter the Religious life if he should recover, and this time, more conscious, maybe, of his mortality, he followed through, eventually finding his home in the Passionist Order.
He was eighteen years old when he was accepted at the novitiate at Morrovalle, Italy in September, 1856, and received the name
Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows. A year later
he pronounced his first vows and entered the seminary. A good student, cheerful, humble, and well-liked by all, there was nothing that stood out to the casual observer about Gabriel's next five years of priestly training and Religious life, except perhaps, his particular devotion to perfect obedience. (Does this sound like a Little Flower you know?) Contracting tuberculosis within the first couple years (also familiar?), he suffered patiently, praying that the miserable illness would be prolonged so that he'd have more time to prepare his soul. After six year in the seminary, in almost constant illness, he died on February 27th, 1862, at the age of 24, before becoming a priest. Perhaps this was his last surrender to pride.
Those that were with St. Gabriel say that at the moment of his death he sat upright in his bed, his face radiant, arms reaching for an unseen figure his eyes were fixed upon. His Confessor believed that it was unquestionably the Blessed Mother come to accompany Gabriel Passenti to heaven.
Aware of St. Gabriel's holiness, having followed his spiritual progress as a Confessor and having read St. Gabriel's memoirs (which Gabriel burned in order to prevent a spirit of pride in himself), Fr. Norbert of Holy Mary wrote Gabriel's biography shortly after his death. Word of the young seminarian's sanctity spread astonishingly quickly. The Congregation of the Passionists, spurred forward by the devotion that had sprung up and persevered, as well as miracles reported, began the process for his canonization in 1891. Pope St. Pius X beatified him in 1908 and he was raised to the altar by Pope Benedict XV on May 13, 1920.
St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother, another saint of the "Little Way."
Like St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Gabriel was not a saint of the extraordinary.
He left no published works (outside of some letters that survived); he did not publicly "convert thousands"; he never went anywhere outside of a small area in Italy; he didn't perform extraordinary acts of penance or astounding feats of great charity; he never even offered Mass. But like St. Therese the Little Flower, he performed many little things very well, offering them perfectly out of love for God. He smiled when he was grumpy; he did his chores without complaint even when he didn't feel well; he obeyed unquestioningly, even when an order from a superior made no sense to him; he suffered illness with resignation; he abandoned his own will to God's in patience and great love. A goal for all of us. One we can reach.
It is no surprise that St. Gabriel Passenti is the patron saint of youth, particularly of students, seminarians, and clerics. St. Gabriel, pray for us to make our own holiness a joy in little things done for love of God; help us not to think of holiness as a difficult and unattainable burden. Amen.
