Saint Boniface
In Dokkum, a town in Friesland a province in northern Holland were my mother was born a statue erected of Saint Boniface commemorating his work among the Frisians who were known as barbarians or southern version of Viking. Steeped in paganism and idolatry He was Known a an apostle of the Frisians,or Germany
A Pontiff called Wynfrith A Soldier of Christ, you will be called Boniface.Saint Boniface, Latin Bonifatius,good fate or one doing good or benefactor” His original name Wynfrid or Wynfrith, (born c. 675, Wessex, England—died June 5, 754, Dokkum, Frisia [now in the Netherlands]He belonged to a noble family.
He received an excellent education in the Benedictine and became a Benedictine monk, being ordained priest at about age 30. From 716 to 722 he made two attempts to evangelize the Frisian.
“Gregory II. who then sat in Peter’s chair, received him with great friendship, and finding him full of all the virtues that compose the character of an apostolic missionary, dismissed him with commission at large to preach the gospel to the pagans wherever he found them. ”
Where he went to Friesland, where he converted and baptized several thousands of barbarous natives, demolished the temples, and raised churches on the ruins of those superstitious structures. He lived there for three years; then he left to Hesse converting a great number of Barbarians. He founded the first monastery in Amoneburg, at the Shore of Olm River.
On Pentecost Sunday, he baptized a great number and summoned a general meeting for confirmation at a place not far from Dokkum, between Franeker and Groningen. Instead of his converts, however, a group of armed robbers appeared who slew the aged archbishop. Having killed Boniface and his company, the Frisian bandits ransacked their possessions but found that the company’s luggage did not contain the riches they had hoped for: “they broke open the chests containing the books and found, to their dismay, that they held manuscripts instead of gold vessels, pages of sacred texts or scriptures instead of silver plates.
Almighty God, who didst call thy faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and martyr in the lands of Germany and Friesland, and by his labor and suffering didst raise up a people for thine own possession: Pour forth thy Holy Spirit upon thy Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many thy holy Name may be glorified and thy kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
PRAYER (contemporary language)
Almighty God, who called your faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and martyr in the lands of Germany and Friesland, and by his labor and suffering raised up a people for your own possession: Pour forth your Holy Spirit upon your Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many your holy Name may be glorified and your kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Saint Boniface’s feast day is celebrated on 5 June in the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Anglican Communion and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The canonization process did not come into existence until the 12th century. In the primitive Church, martyrs were immediately recognized as witnessing to the perfection of Christian life on earth he was not canonized.
He was proclaimed a saint by early Christians because of his martyrdom on June 5, 754
Norman F. Cantor notes The three roles Boniface played that made him “one of the truly outstanding creators of the first Europe first the reformer of the Frankish church, second the chief fomentor of the alliance between the papacy and the Carolingian family, third he helped shape the Latin Church in Europe, and many of the dioceses he proposed remain today.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02656a.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donar%27s_Oak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Boniface
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Boniface
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/178.html
http://saintboniface.us/index.php/en/our-parish/st-boniface
https://www.answers.com/Q/When_did_St._Boniface_become_a_saint
https://www.ancient.eu/Saint_Boniface/
https://www.yourdictionary.com/bonifatius
tiggiep 