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topher posted:

His punch line was that he cut a lizard in half in a split second, and showed the bandits what might happen to them.

MACVSOG68 responded with:

And you're absolutely sure that's true?

If I told you that one man (who was a conscious objector) and was almost allowed to leave the US Army for those beliefs, captured 300 Germans basically singlehandedly, and almost WAS FORCED to kill a number of German machine gunners, you might consider that a lie.

The facts about Gabriel Possenti are not as significant as are those about a corporal from Tennessee whose name was Alvin York.

His squad was caught in an ambush, and all the leaders but him were either dead or wounded.

His next actions were that he wanted DESPARATELY to save lives. He was a God fearing man, though he was once a hell raiser.

So he used his faith in God and his talents as a backwoodsman, and successfully led what was left of his squad back to Allied lines, along with 300 prisoners.

On his dying bed, Alvin York still regretted that he killed one of the Germans -- the German would not surrender.

The Gabriel Possenti story is just an Alvin York story on a much smaller scale.

Twelve of Garibaldi's band were roaming the mountains in Italy, and started to raid and plunder a village. They all had pistols.

Gabriel, a young monk sent the village because of poor health, asked his superior if he could try to help the people.

The superior gave his permission but did not know what Gabriel could do.

Each of the plunderers had a pistol. Gabriel was an excellent marksman and horseman growing up -- very similar to the story of Alvin York.

He came upon one of the band of men, and took his pistol -- the man was busy carrying off a young girl, so it was easy to snatch his pistol. Then he snatched another one from another man.

This warranted the attention of the leader of the band of twelve men, as well as all of them.

He leader asked the young monk what he intended to do with the two pistols -- thinking he did not know how to use them.

It was at this opportune moment, a lizard was crossing the road. The lizard hesitated, and Gabriel let loose one shot which cut the lizard in two.

It must have been some shot, as Gabriel took the other pistol and pointed to the men, and asked if any of them would care to see if he could the same with them as he did with the lizard.

He had no takers, and Gabriel ordered the men to drop their weapons, put out the fires they started and leave.

Now this is from Ann Ball's Modern Saints.

Now you believe the true story of Alvin York, where a conscious objector won the Medal of Honor, our nation's highest honor, and compare it to a smaller tale of Gabriel Possenti.

One difference between the two stories is that Gabriel did not have to kill anyone, but I am sure he was willing to do anything to protect people.

As for Alvin York, he may have saved more lives than just those who survived in his squad. He also saved the lives of 300 German prisoners. Now each of those prisoners, if not captured by Alvin York, might have killed or maimed a person. So maybe the total lives saved was more than 300 lives.

And the story of Alvin York was probably something that might have convince Germany to surrender, as this was not many months before the end of the war, and I am sure this story circulated on both sides of the Front - the German and the Allied side.

But for me, the greatest satisfaction of both stories is that they are stories of men of great faith in God who also had extraordinary abilities.

Ultimately the UNSEEN may been a factor in both stories -- unseen angels and the hand of God guiding the right person at the right time.

These two stories are more an example of what Jesus said: "With God, nothing is impossible."

So I won't force you to believe the story of Gabriel, but I believe it to be true, just as I believe the story of Alvin York to be true.

Both are stories of what a man can do if he has God's help.

You don't have to walk on water to impress me...