MEMORIAL OF SAINT BONIFACE, BISHOP AND MARTYR ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 5TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Boniface and all the Saints, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, particularly pray for those who are terminally ill and those suffering from pathologies of the hands and the feet, we pray for God’s divine healing and intervention. We pray for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. We also pray for tailors and brewers. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏🏽
SAINT BONIFACE, BISHOP AND MARTYR: The English monk St. Boniface (672-754) is known as the Apostle of Germany because he organized twe ⁴he Church there in the 8th century. St. Boniface was born in 672 to a noble Christian family in Devonshire, England, near Exeter, Devon. He was named Winfrith by his well-to-do English parents. As a boy, he studied in Benedictine monastery schools and became a monk himself in the process. For 30 years he lived in relative peace, studying, teaching, and praying. In his early 40s he left the seclusion of the monastery to do missionary work on the Continent. Because his first efforts in Frisia (now the Netherlands) were unsuccessful, Winfrith went to Rome in search of direction. Pope Gregory II renamed him Boniface, “doer of good,” and delegated him to spread the gospel message in Germany. As a Benedictine monk, he devoted his life to the evangelization of the pagan Germanic tribes in what is now Germany at the request of Pope Gregory II in 719 A.D. and systematically opened up the vast tracks of wilderness to the Gospel, building on the work of the earlier Irish missionaries. St. Boniface organized the Catholic Church in Germany, instructed the faithful, and converted the pagans. He evangelized Hesse, Saxony and Thuringia and became Archbishop of Mainz and founded or restored many dioceses. Working alongside him as evangelists were his nephews and niece, St. Willibald, St. Winebald, and St. Walburga, who all came from England to Germany to assist him.
Legend has it that at Christmastime he chopped down a large tree which was worshiped as a god and used in child sacrifice, and the local pagans converted to Christianity as a result. Instead of worshiping the tree, St. Boniface gave them a smaller evergreen tree as a symbol of eternal life in Christ, the origin of the Christmas tree tradition. He was put to death by the Frisians at Dokkum in 754 during the last of his missionary journeys. He was martyred for his faith along with 52 others as he read the Scriptures on Pentecost Sunday. St. Boniface profoundly influenced the course of German history in the Middle Ages and helped to make it a Christian nation. For his missionary work he is known as the “Apostle of Germany.” He well earned the title of Apostle of Germany, and Catholic Germany in our own times still venerates him as its father in the faith. The famous abbey of Fulda, where his body lies, has remained the national shrine of Catholic Germany. He is Patron Saint of Brewers; Tailors; Germany; Prussia. His feast day is June 5th.
An excerpt from a letter by St Boniface (672-754) “The Apostle of Germany”, Bishop and Martyr:
“Let us stand fast in what is right and prepare our souls for trial. Let us wait upon God’s strengthening aid and say to Him:“O Lord, you have been our refuge in all generations.” Let us trust in Him, who has placed this burden upon us. What we ourselves cannot bear, let us bear with the help of Christ. For He is all-powerful and He tells us: “My yoke is easy and my burden light.” Let us continue the fight, on the day of the Lord. The days of anguish and of tribulation have overtaken us. If God so wills, “let us die for the holy laws of our fathers,” so that we may deserve, to obtain an eternal inheritance with them. Let us be neither dogs that do not bark, nor silent onlookers, nor paid servants, who run away before the wolf. Instead, let us be careful shepherds, watching over Christ’s flock. Let us preach the whole of God’s plan, to the powerful and to the humble, to rich and to poor, to men of every rank and age, as far as God gives us the strength, in season and out of season.”
PRAYER: May the Martyr Saint Boniface be our advocate, O Lord, that we may firmly hold the faith he taught with his lips and sealed in his blood and confidently profess it by our deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever… Amen. St Boniface, Pray for us!🙏🏽