Day 6
6th / Sixth Day / dedicated to Saint Noël Chabanel, S.J.
Martyred December 8th, 1649.
Noël Chabanel became a Jesuit at the age of seventeen, a priest at twenty-eight; was a successful professor and humanist in France. Experiencing a strong desire to consecrate himself to the Canadian Missions, he arrived in Quebec in 1643 and then to Huronia.
The enthusiasm of the young missionary quickly lost its glamour. Unable to learn the Indian language, feeling useless in the ministry, sensitive to the surroundings, his life was to be one unbroken chain of disappointments, an ordeal that he himself called a “bloodless Martyrdom.”
Tempted to return to France, he bound himself by a vow to remain in New France till death. For two years he stood in the shadow of death and then was slain secretly by an apostate Huron on the banks of the Nottawasaga, twenty-five miles from Ste. Marie on December 8th, 1649.
Prayer to Saint Noël Chabanel
Saint Noël Chabanel, whose heart burned with the desire to sacrifice all for the glory and honor of God, obtain for me a right appreciation of the trials and sufferings of this life. Let not disappointments discourage me nor crosses weigh me down, so that strengthened by the example of your heroic constancy and perserverance in the service of God on earth, I may some day share your reward in heaven. Amen.