June 5: Boniface, Bishop and Missionary, 754

The Collect of the Day

Boniface

Pour out your Holy Spirit, O God, upon your church in every land, that like your servant Boniface we might proclaim the Gospel to all nations, that your kingdom might be enlarged and that your holy Name might be glorified in all the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Boniface

Pour out thy Holy Ghost, O God, upon thy church in every land, that like thy servant Boniface we might proclaim the Gospel unto all nations, that thy kingdom might be enlarged and that thy holy Name might be glorified in all the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Bel and the Dragon 3–19
Psalm 115:1–8
Mark 8:27–30

Boniface is justly called one of the “Makers of Europe.” He was born at Crediton in Devonshire, England, about 675, and received the English name of Winfred. He was educated at Exeter, and later at Nursling, near Winchester, where he was professed as a monk and ordained to the priesthood.

Inspired by the examples of Willibrord and others, Winfred decided to become a missionary, and made his first Journey to Frisia (the Netherlands) in 716—a venture with little success. In 719 he started out again, but this time he first went to Rome to seek papal approval. Pope Gregory II commissioned him to work in Germany, and gave him the name of Boniface.

For the rest of his days, Boniface devoted himself to reforming, planting, and organizing churches, monasteries, and dioceses in Hesse, Thuringia, and Bavaria. Many helpers and supplies came to him from friends in England. In 722 the Pope ordained him as a bishop, ten years later made him an archbishop, and in 743 gave him a fixed see at Mainz.

The Frankish rulers also supported his work. At their invitation, he presided over reforming councils of the Frankish Church, and in 752, with the consent of Pope Zacharias, he anointed Pepin (Pippin) as King of the Franks. Thus, the way was prepared for Charlemagne, son of Pepin, and the revival of a unified Christian dominion in western Europe.

In 753 Boniface resigned his see in order to spend his last years again as a missionary in Frisia. On June 5th, 754, while awaiting a group of converts for confirmation, he and his companions were murdered by a band of pagans, near Dokkum. His body was buried at Fulda, a monastery he had founded in 744, near Mainz.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

Psalm

¹Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your Name give glory; *because of your love and because of your faithfulness.

²Why should the heathen say, *“Where then is their God?”

³Our God is in heaven; *whatever he wills to do he does.

⁴Their idols are silver and gold, *the work of human hands.

⁵They have mouths, but they cannot speak; *eyes have they, but they cannot see;

⁶They have ears but they cannot hear; *noses, but they cannot smell;

⁷They have hands, but they cannot feel; feet, but they cannot walk; *they make no sound with their throat.

⁸Those who make them are like them, *and so are all who put their trust in them.