Saint of Killers

Over at Volokh, David Kopel asks us to join him in celebrating St. Gabriel Possenti Day. Gabe is the gun-totin' bigamist wannabe that kill-fetishists want to have declared the patron saint of handgunners. Because, really, who needs to be protected by magical ghosts more than someone wielding a semi-automatic?

Perhaps anticipating the "what the fuck?" reaction, Kopel reminds us that there are all kinds of saints whose purview is killing people, including St. Barbara (ammo mags), St. Adrian of Nicomedia (arms dealers), paratroopers (the Archangel Michael) and Special Forces (St. Philip Neri).

However, reading further, St. Gabe might be better named the patron saint of hysterically violent overreactions to homosexuality:

This was not the only time that Possenti drew a weapon. On one occasion, the young seminarian was taking a walk when a young man came along, and began chatting and walking with Possenti. The conversation was friendly, until they came near a deserted shack, and the stranger tried to lure Possenti inside for a homosexual encounter-—a triple sin in Possenti's eyes, since the sex would be non-marital, homosexual, and a flagrant violation of the seminarian’s vow of celibacy. Apparently afraid that the stranger might attempt to rape him, Possenti drew his hunting knife, which he always carried when walking in the woods, and yelled, "You fiend! If you try to touch me, I'll stick you through." The stranger fled.

That'll learn him! A gun-toting, knife-wielding, hot-tempered, angry homophobe -- surely this is a saint for our times.