St Boniface.
680-754. ~ Boniface is believed to have been born in Devon in England. He was baptised and given the name Wynfrith. At only seven years old, he was sent to be educated at the monastery school near Exeter and as a small boy, he would listen to the monks talking about their experiences as missionaries in Europe and he wished to be a monk one day and go abroad to teach the pagans about God. At the age of fourteen, he entered the Benedictine abbey of Nursling in Winchester and became a brilliant Latin scholar and Bible preacher. Boniface remained at Nursling as an ordinary monk until he was ordained at the age of thirty. He became a director of Nursling school and began preaching and teaching, a task at which he excelled. However, he knew in his heart he wanted to be a missionary. His first attempt was in Friesland (now part of the Netherlands), but he was unsuccessful so he visited Pope Gregory II in Rome and the following year was sent to Germany in an attempt to convert all the pagan tribes to Christianity. St Willibrord in Friesland for the next three years. He then was transferred to Hesse in Germany. The pope recalled Boniface to Rome and promoted him to regionary bishop for Germany. It was not long before he was back in Hesse and was put in the care of Charles Martel, leader of the Franks who protected and aided Boniface in his missionary quest. As he was a very sociable person and made friends quite quickly, Boniface gained the trust of the local people. He began to gradually destroy pagan influences, icons and temples and replaced them with Christian churches and religious communities.
Over the years, Boniface became a popular figure and was loved by his people who crowded round in their hundreds to hear him speak. The pope appointed him archbishop of all Germany with his see situated in Mainz. Boniface continued to work for the next thirty years, creating new Christians all over Germany.
As he grew older and slower, he resigned his see, but he was asked to go back to Friesland on the death of Willibrord, to organise the conversion of those who had lapsed. Although Boniface “retired”, he did not stop working. On the night before Pentecost in Friesland in 754, he was preparing for the confirmation of some of his converts when he and a number of his helpers were killed by a small group of pagans. He was called the “Apostle of Germany” and he was canonised in 1874.