Boniface
c. 680 – June 5, 754
Called the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid, Wynfrith, or Wynfryth possibly at Crediton in the kingdom of Wessex (now in Devon, England).
He was a Christian missionary to the Frankish Empire during the 8th century.
He is known as the patron saint of Germany and the First archbishop of Mainz.
BRIEF BIO: (various sources)
Earliest Life:
The earliest "Life" of Boniface, written by Willibald around 765, does not mention his place of birth but that at an early age he .... The "life" written by Otloh of St. Emmeram in the 10th century says that his birth was at Crediton, but it is not clear on what basis this was.
Winfrid was of a respected and prosperous family. It was somewhat against his father's wishes that he devoted himself at an early age to the monastic life. He received his theological training in the Benedictine monasteries of Adescancastre, near Exeter and Nursling, on the western edge of Southampton, under the abbot Winbert. Winfrid taught in the abbey school and at the age of 30 became a priest. He wrote the first Latin grammar produced in England.
"Saint Boniface," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saint_Boniface&oldid
=347569693 (accessed March 4, 2010). |
An Overview
"He entered a monastery at Nursling [near Southampton] and became a monk and a priest. He found in his heart a burning passion for foreign mission. Finally his abbot let him leave, and in 716 he set out for the land of the Frisians (in the Netherlands, where the black and white cows come from!). Another English Missionary, Willibrord from Northumbria had already preached the Gospel there for several years. But wars and the hatred of the pagans were big obstacles for the young Wynfrith. Some months later, having failed, he returned to his monastery in England, to devote two more years to preparation for his apostolic work. (Isn't it encouraging to know that even a great saint failed at first, but did not give up?)
After failing in his mission to Frisia, and after two years of further preparation, in 718 Wynfrith once again left his monastery, this time for good. He would never return to England. So he set off for Rome to ask the leader of the world-wide church for his commissioning and blessing. On 14 May 719 he threw himself at the feet of Pope Gregory II, who gave him the new name "Boniface". He then crossed the Alps and embarked on 35 years of missionary work in various parts of Germany, as well as a return visit to Frisia. In 722 he was consecrated by the Pope as Bishop of the whole of Germany to the east of the Rhine.
On his return to Germany as Bishop, Boniface decided to tackle the heathen superstitions head-on. At a place called Geismar in front of hostile tribesmen he chopped down a sacred Oak Tree, where they worshipped Thor, the god of thunder (after whom our Thursday is named), and laid the foundations of a flourishing new church there. (This event is depicted in the banner at the front of our church as well as outside over the main door). He went on to plant many new churches and monasteries, and to re-organise the existing ones so that they were more effective Christian communities and properly "equipped for mission". After six years, the Pope made him Archbishop of all Germany, based at Mainz.
As well as expanding and growing the churches in Germany, Boniface was equally concerned to ensure that the political authorities and rulers became firmly committed to Christianity. He crowned Pepin as King of all the "Franks" (the people of France and Germany), whose son Charlemagne was to become the first "Holy Roman Emperor" - a title which continued for the following 1,000 years. Boniface was constantly travelling around, encouraging churches, appointing good leaders, and negotiating with politicians. His journeys and letters show his energy and spirituality. Many of his fellow-workers came from his native England. Whenever tired, he withdrew to the new abbey he had founded at Fulda (in central Germany) for rest and refreshment. But even in his late 70s he was not prepared to put his feet up for long!
His Death
At the age of nearly 80, when most Archbishops would retire or concentrate on their books (and Boniface was devoted to reading), he had other ideas. He still wanted to take the gospel to Frisia, where his first efforts had failed nearly 40 years earlier. So he set off with 52 companions on an evangelistic mission. At Pentecost, on 5 June 755 near the modern town of Dokkum in the Netherlands, they were all massacred by heathen brigands. Boniface was himself struck down by a sword which pierced the bible he had raised to shield his head ... As requested in his Will, his body was taken back to the monastery he had founded at Fulda, in central Germany, where a magnificent Cathedral now encloses his tomb, and where all the Roman Catholic Bishops of Germany hold their meetings every year.
Robert Stand, 'So Who was St Boniface?' St Boniface Church, Quinton 1999, http://www.stboniface.org.uk/whowas.htm
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The Apostle of Germany
Isolated missionary groups had penetrated central Germany in earlier times, but not until the eighth century was there a systematic effort to Christianize the vast pagan wilderness. To the English monk Boniface belongs the honor of opening up this region and creating a hierarchy under direct commission from the Holy See. Thirty-six years of missionary labor under difficult and dangerous conditions, ending at last in martyrdom, entitle this good and courageous man to the designation, "Apostle of Germany."
.... Boniface had little difficulty in making himself understood as a preacher, since the dialects of the various Teutonic tribes closely resembled his native Anglo-Saxon. He won the interest of two powerful local chieftains, Dettic and Deorulf, who at some previous time had been baptized. For lack of instruction they had remained little better than pagans; now they became zealous Christians and influenced many others to be baptized. They also gave Boniface a grant of land on which he later founded the monastery of Amoeneburg. Boniface was able to report such remarkable gains that the Pope summoned him back to Rome to be ordained bishop.
In Rome on St. Andrew's Day, November 30, 722, Pope Gregory II consecrated him as regionary bishop with a general jurisdiction over "the races in the parts of Germany and east of the Rhine who live in error, in the shadow of death." The Pope also gave him a letter to the powerful Charles Martel, "The Hammer." When Boniface delivered it to the Frankish duke on his way back to Germany, he received the valuable gift of a sealed pledge of Frankish protection. Armed thus with authority from both the Church and the civil power, the prestige of Boniface was vastly enhanced. On his return to Hesse, he decided to try to root out the pagan superstitions which seriously affected the stability of his converts. On a day publicly announced, and in the midst of an awe-struck crowd, Boniface and one or two of his followers attacked with axes Thor's sacred oak. These German tribes, along with many other primitive peoples, were tree-worshipers. Thor, god of thunder, was one of the principal Teutonic deities, and this ancient oak, which stood on the summit of Mt. Gudenberg, was sacred to him. After a few blows, the huge tree crashed to earth, splitting into four parts. The terrified tribesmen, who had expected a punishment to fall instantly on the perpetrators of such an outrage, now saw that their god was powerless to protect even his own sanctuary.
To signalize the victory, Boniface built a chapel on the spot. From that time the work of evangelization in Hesse proceeded steadily.
Excerpted from "Lives of Saints", Published by John J. Crawley & Co., Inc.,
Provided Courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network
http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/bonifac.htm
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Articles:
Missionaries of the AX
Food for Thought | The humble town is Fritzlar, called Gaesmere in ancient times. It is known in Germany as the birthplace of two beginnings: Here began the Christianization of Germany, and here’s where the German Empire was born as a political entity. The statue is that of the Anglo-Saxon monk and missionary Wynfrith, also known as St. Boniface, the patron saint of Germany and the Netherlands. And the stump is the remains of the tree that belonged to the highest German god, the Oak of Thor. The Oak of Thor was the center of the pagan religion of the local tribe of the Hessians, and the most pagan Germans at the time.
In 723, on his way to Thüringia, St. Boniface stopped at Gaesmere. He had worked for five years as a missionary in Frisia, Hesse, and Thüringia, and he had some limited success. Unfortunately, as his biographer Willibald relates, those Germans that converted were never too stable in the faith; while giving lip service to Christ, they would secretly go back to their pagan ways, bringing sacrifices to the pagan gods, practicing divination and incantations, etc. Boniface decided to deal with the problem once and for all by attacking at the very center of their pagan religion. One morning he appeared at the Oak of Thor with an ax in his hand, surrounded by a pagan crowd who cursed him and expected the gods to intervene and kill him. He raised his hand against Thor and delivered the first blow.  |
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