St. Noël Chabanel

St. Noël Chabanel was born in 1613 in southern France and entered the Society of Jesus as a young man. Gifted in language, teaching and classical studies, he might have spent his life in the classroom, but he offered himself for the difficult mission of New France. He arrived in Canada in 1643 and was sent among the Huron people, joining the missionary labor that would give the Church the North American Martyrs.

His holiness is especially moving because the mission did not come easily to him. Some missionaries adapted more readily to Native languages and customs; Chabanel struggled intensely. He found the language nearly impossible, the food and conditions repugnant and the hardships exhausting. Rather than treat these struggles as failure, he turned them into an offering. In 1647 he made a vow to remain in the mission until death, binding himself to a people and a land that natural feeling tempted him to leave.

The Huron mission collapsed amid war, disease and violence connected with the Iroquois conflict. Chabanel was assigned with St. Charles Garnier and later sent from one mission station to another as danger increased. In December 1649, after leaving the mission of St. Jean, he disappeared. Later testimony indicated that he was killed, probably by an apostate Huron, and his body was thrown into a river. His martyrdom was quieter and less publicly documented than some of his companions, but his hidden fidelity was no less real.

Canonized with the North American Martyrs in 1930, Noël Chabanel is a patron for missionaries who feel weak, discouraged or out of place. His life shows that sanctity is not always accompanied by emotional success. Sometimes it is found in remaining faithful to a vow when every natural support has been stripped away.

Among the North American Martyrs, his struggle is especially consoling because he did not feel naturally suited to the mission. The vow to remain, made when everything in him wanted release, reveals a martyrdom of perseverance before the final blow. His death was hidden, but the Church remembers the costly fidelity behind it.

His feast is kept with the Canadian Martyrs on 19 October in the United States and on 26 September in Canada. Chabanel’s story is especially important because it shows martyrdom prepared by years of interior sacrifice before the final shedding of blood.