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 Boniface, the apostle of Germany, was born in a noble English family around 675. He felt it was his duty to Christianize those countries from which his Anglo-Saxon ancestors had emigrated. He sacrificed his prospects at home, crossed the channel, and began his missionary career with a few companions.
Boniface was trained in Benedictine abbeys and ordained a priest around 705. From 716 to 721 he twice attempted to evangelize the German tribes on the Continent but was twice rebuffed by their king. He later went on a pilgrimage to Rome, and there Pope Gregory II commissioned him with the task of evangelizing the German pagans.
Boniface returned a third time in 722 and this time met with great success. In the presence of a large assembly, he cut down the sacred oak of Thor at Geismar, and built with it the planks the church of St. Peter. This practical sermon was the death and burial of German mythology.
Boniface was a great organizer and educator who profoundly influenced the course of intellectual, political, and ecclesiastical history in Germany and France throughout the Middle Ages. He uni¬fied the missionary movement by bringing it under the control of Rome, provided bish¬ops and teachers for many generations, and significantly improved the quality of life in the Frankish kingdom.
In 754, a band of pagan Frisians martyred him while he read the Scriptures to new converts on Pentecost Sunday.
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