Boniface: A Lifetime of Service

He never lost his passion for missionary service. The archbishop of Germany, Boniface, could have enjoyed the honor of his office at an age when most men dream of a settled life. But the mission field held more purpose and challenge than presiding over monasteries or maintaining cathedrals. Boniface was 75 years old when he left Germany to preach the gospel once again.

Boniface is probably the most widely known name, apart from popes and kings, of the eighth century. He was born “Winfred” in England around 680. Early in life, to his father’s dismay, he chose a vocation in the church. He took training in Benedictine monasteries and wrote the first Latin grammar in England. He was ordained a priest when he was 30 years old, but he wanted the frontier.

In 716, Winfred set out on a missionary expedition to Friesland, or Frisia (now northern Netherlands and northwestern Germany). His own Anglo-Saxon language was similar to the spoken language of the Frisians. The mission was frustrated, however, by a war raging between Charles Martel (who later stopped the “Mohammedans” from entering Europe in the battle of Potiers, 732) and the Frisian king.

In 719, during a visit to Rome, Winfred was given the name Boniface by Pope Gregory II, who commissioned him to evangelize Germany. For five years Boniface preached and baptized in Hesse and Thuringia. In 722, he was named bishop of the Germanic territories.

A year later Boniface performed one of those simple acts of defiance that gives birth to legends. He felled a large oak tree near the town of Fritzlar in northern Hesse, a tree known to locals as Thor’s Oak. Indeed, many locals were present as Boniface worked at the oak’s tough base. These onlookers grew steadily more curious and angry with this foreigner who was infuriating their gods with each stroke of the axe. Indeed, they expected Thor or one of his agents to fell the bishop with a thunderclap. When the oak hit the ground, it split into four parts, so the story goes, and the people instantly knew that a superior divine power was at work. Most converted as Boniface had the wood sawn to make a chapel — today the site of Fritzler Cathedral.

Boniface made other trips to Rome, each time receiving honors and more territory to win for Christ. He was made archbishop of Germany in 732 and put his headquarters at Mentz. More structures were built and movements begun.

In 755, Boniface was restless again about the heathen in Frisia. He organized a large group of priests and laymen, and he preached there with extraordinary success. On Whitsun Eve (the eve of Pentecost) in 755, he called all new converts to a great meeting near Dokkum. Instead of converts, however, he was ambushed by a gang of local vigilantes, who mercilessly killed 52 Christians, including Boniface.

His reputation had already been won, his legacy established, his titles and honors awarded. The powers in Rome would have made his old age comfortable. Instead, Boniface chose missions, and in Frisia he died a martyr.

For 2,000 years, Christians like Boniface have courageously faced beatings, stonings, torture, burnings and every form of evil for boldly proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ. You can read their stories and connect with your Christian heritage in Foxe: Voices of the Martyrs: AD 33–Today, available with any gift to VOM.