St. Boniface of Mainz

Apostle of Germany

Boniface was born Winfrid around the year 680 to a respected and noble English family.

Convinced of his calling to be a missionary, Winfrid declined the position of abbot at the monastery of Nursling and obtained from his superior permission to travel to Frisia to assist the famous missionary, St. Willibrord, who had been struggling for a long time to bring the Gospel home to his people. However, the mission ended in failure and Winfrid was forced to return to England a few months later.

Refusing to give up though, Winfrid set out for Rome to ask the Holy Father himself for an official mission and the backing of the Church. Pope Gregory II consented, gave him the new name of Boniface, and assigned him to work in Thuringia, Germany, where the Church was in bad shape, isolated, and subjected to superstition and heresy.

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