PASTOR’S CORNER, Rev. Jason Toombs, Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Liberal
The Church celebrates the life and martyrdom of Saint Boniface of Mainz, Missionary to the Germans on June 5 as that was the date that he was martyred, in the year 754, for his faith in Jesus Christ.
Winfrid, his English name, later named Boniface after the fourth century martyr Boniface of Tarsus, was born in 675 into a prosperous family in England, and, against his father’s wishes, he devoted himself to the Benedictine monastery. His father had hoped that he would continue to follow in his footsteps, but the life of the church called him from an early age as he desired to walk the lonely way of the cross.
He enrolled at the monastery at Exeter to live the life of a monk and, when he desired to deepen his faith in Christ, he went to Nursling, not far from Winchester, and studied under Abbot Winbert.
It was here that he decided to deepen his faith even further and enrolled in the priesthood at the age of 30 and wrote a Latin grammar book for the monastery. His book was added to the expanding library found at the monastery and would be used to train others in the way of God as Latin was still used as the language of the Church in the west.
Around the year 716, Abbot Wynberth, who had been the head of the monastery, died and many expected Boniface to take up the mantle of Abbot and continue teaching those who came for learning. It was during this time that the practice of passing the title and authority of Abbot onto someone related to the previous Abbot was taking place, but Boniface declined the position and was a missionary to Frisia (Netherlands).
He had been working with the Frisians since the 690s to expand the faith among those who were found after Willibroard, the Apostle to the Frisians, had started preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who converted. Boniface continued the preaching effort in the countryside as he desired to bring faith in Christ to those who needed His salvation.
In 717, Boniface traveled back to Rome and was renamed Boniface and was sent as a missionary to the German people. He was renamed Boniface as he was given the title of Bishop, without having a bishopric, a cathedral, for his effort as he was responsible for bringing the faith to those who had not yet heard of Jesus.
Legend has it that he started chopping down the Donar Oak, which was connected to the so-called Norse God Thor or the Roman God Jove/Jupiter, and a great wind blew and helped fell the tree. After felling it, and suffering no harm from the so-called gods, many of the people converted to Christianity and used the lumber to build a chapel in the province of Hesse, Germany. The location of the chapel would be expanded in the coming years and would house a church and the Monastery of Fritzlar.
During these years the Carolingian dynasty was in power in the Frankish empire, what would be known as Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Because of the power of Charles Martel, and others, there was little war in the area as they were waging was with the Saxons further into modern-day Germany.
In 732, Boniface traveled again to Rome and was titled Archbishop over the lands of Germany. It was during this time that he spoke more with the leaders of the Frankish empire to allow Boniface control of the churches in the empire. After his third trip to Rome, 737-738, Boniface met with Charles Martel and was given four new dioceses in Bavaria, Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau, along with more churches and authority in the land.
In 754, after all of his success in Germany through diplomacy, he desired to travel back to Frisia and help convert more of the people to Christ. It was during this period of time that he had attracted a large number of converts who had received baptism and were wanting to confirm their faith. He had asked them to gather not far from Dokkum at a general meeting of the church to make their confirmation, but instead of his converts, a group of armed robbers were gathered, and they killed the archbishop and those who were with him. The robbers had hoped to find riches and gold, but, when opening the chests, they contained Bibles, books, and other things used in the church, not golden cups and silver offering plates. All this took place on June 5, 754.
Saint Boniface of Mainz is remembered as a missionary and apostles to those who had not known Jesus. He was a preacher who desired to convert people with a word and not with a sword. According to legend, he said to those who came against him as robbers, “Cease fighting. Lay down your arms, for we are told in Scripture not to render evil for evil but to overcome evil by good."
