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St. Boniface:
The Apostle of Germany

James C. Hamilton
Updated by Lou Giorgetti



Saint Boniface, Apostle of Germany
12th Century of Death
Scott 192-194 (1955)


June 5 marks the feast day of Saint Boniface, who bears the title of "Apostle of Germany". His feast day falls on the anniversary of his martyrdom in 754. The Vatican City stamps above were issued to commemorate the 1200th anniversary of his death. The stamps show Saint Boniface in front of the Fulda Abbey, or Cathedral.

An Anglo-Saxon, born Wynfrith likely at Crediton (Devon, England) around the year 675, Boniface became a monk in southern England (Exeter, Nursling, near Southampton). He wrote the first Latin grammar produced in England, was ordained priest at age 30, and became known as a great teacher and preacher. He first traveled to Germany in 716 and for a second and final time in 718. He served as a missionary in what is now the northern Netherlands in Frisia, and elsewhere, including Hesse, Bavaria, and Westphalia. Boniface traveled to Rome several times to report the results of his labors and was consecrated bishop by Pope Gregory II, and then an archbishop in Rome by Pope Gregory III in 732. His see was established at Mainz (where his statue can be seen at the city’s cathedral and is shown below) and he established a hierarchy for Bavaria.

Boniface received a letter guaranteeing protection from Frankish king Charles Martel, the grandfather of Charlemagne. He held synods in France that led to Church reform supported in this effort by Frankish rulers. The Rule of St. Benedict was established as the code for Carolingian monasteries, which were key ingredients in his missionary activities. He established bishoprics in locations such as Erfurt, Buraberg, and Eichstatt. English monasteries sent gifts of books, relics, sacred vessels. He gathered followers on his trips to Rome, who joined his monastic endeavors. Boniface established close relationships with both popes as well as German princes which was an important ingredient in his success.

Boniface died as a martyr in Friesland (in Frisia in the northern Netherlands), near Dokkum, where he was attacked by a group of pagans who murdered him and his companions. His remains were taken to Fulda (in the region of Hesse) and were interred at the Fulda Abbey (shown below).

David Farmer writes, Boniface is widely venerated as a monk, a reforming bishop, and as a very influential man of letters. Historian Christopher Dawson suggests that Boniface had a deeper influence on the history of Europe than any other Englishman, not only in terms of Christian conversions but also in the alliance between popes and emperors which was critical to Europe’s future. In many respects his works, along with those of Saints Adalbert, Cyril and Methodius, and Stanislaus of Poland, created Catholic Europe, along with monasteries who followed Rule of St. Benedict.


Left: Statue of Saint Boniface, Mainz
Photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel, From Wikimedia Commons, used under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
Right: Front View of Fulda Cathedral
Photo by Ansgar Koreng, From Wikimedia Commons, used under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license


REFERENCES:
  • David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints
  • Anonymous, Vatican Notes, Volume 8, Number 3, pp. 11-12, 1959, St Boniface