1637-47.] NOEL CHABANEL. 105 



by the way. Chaumonot was soon seized with a 

 pain in the knee, so violent that it seemed impos- 

 sible to proceed. At San Severino, where they 

 lodged with the Barnabites, he bethought him of 

 asking the intercession of a certain poor woman 

 of that place, who had died some time before with 

 the reputation of sanctity. Accordingly he ad- 

 dressed to her his prayer, promising to publish 

 her fame on every possible occasion, if she would 

 obtain his cure from God.^ The intercession was 

 accepted ; the offending limb became sound again, 

 and the two pilgrims pursued their journey. They 

 reached Loretto, and, kneeling before the Queen 

 of Heaven, implored her favor and aid ; while 

 Chaumonot, overflowing with devotion to this celes- 

 tial mistress of his heart, conceived the purpose of 

 building in Canada a chapel to her honor, after 

 the exact model of the Holy House of Loretto. 

 They soon afterwards embarked together, and ar- 

 rived among the Hurons early in the autumn of 

 1639. 



Noel Chabanel came later to the mission ; for he 

 did not reach the Huron country until 1643. He 

 detested the Indian life, — the smoke, the vermin, 

 the filthy food, the impossibility of privacy. He 

 could not study by the smoky lodge-fire, among the 

 noisy crowd of men and squaws, with their dogs, 

 and their restless, screeching children. He had a 

 natural inaptitude to learning the language, and 



1 " Je me recommandai a elle en lui promettant de la fairs connoitre 

 dans toutes les occasions que j'en aurois jamais, si elle m'obtenoit de Dieu 

 ma guerison." — Chaumonot, Vie, 46. 



