TheChurch of St Mary Major, formerlyExeter Minster, was a historicchurchandparishin theCity of Exeter, Devon, dating from the 7th century. It pre-dated the firstExeter Cathedralby some five centuries, was rebuilt several times, but was finally demolished in 1971. It was situated to the immediate south-west of Exeter Cathedral, the site today being a grass lawn.[1]
History
The earliest known form of a building on the site was a Roman bath-house, built 60–65 AD. In the 7th century the Saxons built on the site of the bath-house a monastery or minster.[1]Saint Boniface(c. 675–754), supposed to have been born in Crediton, Devon, was educated at Exeter Minster in 680, when the monastery ofEscancastre,[2]orExamchester[3]was under the rule of Abbot Wulfhard. It was refoundedcirca930 by the Anglo-Saxon KingÆthelstanbut was burnt down by Viking raiders in 1003. It was rebuilt by KingCanutein 1018. In 1050 theSee of Creditonmoved its seat to Exeter Minster, by licence of KingEdward the Confessor, which was the founding of theSee of Exeter. After theNorman Conquestof 1066, in 1114 BishopWilliam Warelwastcommenced the building of a newcathedralto house theSee of Exeter, on the site of the presentExeter Cathedral, to the immediate north-east of Exeter Minster. The new cathedral was completedcirca1220, whereupon the minster was vacated by the bishop, and was converted to a parish church dedicated toSaint Mary. The "Major"suffixappears to indicate a church of special status, as in theBasilica di Santa Maria MaggioreinRome. It was demolished in 1865 in order to build a larger church to house the expanded population of the city, which new building was consecrated in 1867. It escaped the bombing inWorld War IIwhich so much of the city suffered, but was finally demolished in 1971, being by then little attended by parishioners. Following the demolition several Saxon graves were discovered on the site, together with the foundations of the Roman bath-house and Saxon Minster. The site is now a level grass lawn.[1]
"Boniface" redirects here. For other uses, seeBoniface (disambiguation).
For other uses, seeSaint Boniface (disambiguation).
Saint
Boniface
OSB
Saint Bonifaceby Cornelis Bloemaert,c.1630Bishop
Martyr
Apostle to the Germans
Bornc.675[1]
Crediton,DumnoniaDied5 June 754 (aged around 79)
nearDokkum,FrisiaVeneratedinCatholic Church
Lutheranism
Eastern Orthodox Church[2]
Anglican CommunionMajorshrineFulda Cathedral
St Boniface Catholic Church,Crediton, EnglandFeast5 JuneAttributesIn bishop's robes, book pierced by a sword (also axe; oak; scourge)PatronageFulda;Germania; England (Orthodox Church; jointly with Ss. Augustine of Canterbury, and Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. The Orthodox Church also recognises him as patron Saint of Germany);Devon;Winnipeg
Boniface(bornWynfreth;c.675[3]– 5 June 754) was an EnglishBenedictinemonk and leading figure in theAnglo-Saxon missionto the Germanic parts ofFranciaduring the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of thechurch in Germanyand was madeArchbishop of MainzbyPope Gregory III. He wasmartyredinFrisiain 754, along with 52 others, and his remains were returned toFulda, where they rest in asarcophaguswhich remains a site ofChristian pilgrimage.
Boniface's life and death as well as his work became widely known, there being a wealth of material available– a number ofvitae, especially the near-contemporaryVita Bonifatii auctore Willibaldi, legal documents, possibly some sermons, and above all his correspondence. He is venerated as asaintin the Christian church and became thepatron saintofGermania, known as the "Apostle to the Germans".
Norman Cantornotes the three roles Boniface played that made him "one of the truly outstanding creators of the first Europe, as the apostle of Germania, the reformer of theFrankish Church, and the chief fomentor of the alliance between thepapacyand theCarolingian family."[4]Through his efforts to reorganize and regulate the church of the Franks, he helped shape theLatin Churchin Europe, and many of the dioceses he proposed remain today. After his martyrdom, he was quickly hailed as a saint in Fulda and other areas in Germania and in England. He is still venerated strongly today by Catholics in Germany and throughout theGerman diaspora. Boniface is celebrated as a missionary; he is regarded as a unifier of Europe, and he is regarded by German Roman Catholics as a national figure.[5]
In 2019Devon County Council, with the support of the AnglicanDiocese of Exeter, theRoman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth, and local Devon leaders of the Orthodox, Methodist, and Congregational churches, officially recognised St Boniface as the Patron Saint ofDevon.[6][7][8]
Early life
Prayer card, early 20th century, depicting Boniface leaving England
The earliest Bonifacianvitadoes not indicate his place of birth but says that at an early age he attended a monastery ruled by Abbot Wulfhard inescancastre,[9]orExamchester,[10]which seems to denoteExeter, and may have been one of manymonasteriolabuilt by local landowners and churchmen; nothing else is known of it outside the Bonifacianvitae.[11]This monastery is believed to have occupied the site of theChurch of St Mary Majorin theCity of Exeter, demolished in 1971, next to which was later builtExeter Cathedral.[12]Later tradition places his birth atCrediton, but the earliest mention of Crediton in connection to Boniface is from the early fourteenth century,[13]inJohn Grandisson'sLegenda Sanctorum: The Proper Lessons for Saints' Days according to the use of Exeter.[14]In one of his letters Boniface mentions he was "born and reared...[in] the synod of London",[15]but he may have been speaking metaphorically.[16]His English name is recorded as being Winfrid or Winfred.[17]
According to thevitae, Winfrid was of a respected and prosperous family. Against his father's wishes he devoted himself at an early age to the monastic life. He received further theological training in theBenedictinemonastery andminsterofNhutscelle (Nursling),[18]not far fromWinchester, which under the direction of abbot Winbert had grown into an industrious centre of learning in the tradition ofAldhelm.[19]Winfrid taught in the abbey school and at the age of 30 became a priest; in this time, he wrote a Latin grammar, theArs Grammatica, besides a treatise on verse and someAldhelm-inspired riddles.[20]While little is known about Nursling outside Boniface'svitae, it seems clear that the library there was significant. To supply Boniface with the materials he needed, it would have contained works byDonatus,Priscian,Isidore, and many others.[21]Around 716, when his abbot Wynberth of Nursling died, he was invited (or expected) to assume his position—it is possible that they were related, and the practice of hereditary right among the early Anglo-Saxons would affirm this.[22]Winfrid, however, declined the position and in 716 set out on amissionary expeditiontoFrisia.
Early missionary work in Frisia and Germania
Saint Boniface fellingDonar's Oak
Boniface first left for the continent in 716. He traveled toUtrecht, whereWillibrord, the "Apostle to the Frisians", had been working since the 690s. He spent a year with Willibrord, preaching in the countryside, but their efforts were frustrated by the war then being carried on betweenCharles MartelandRadbod, King of the Frisians. Willibrord fled to the abbey he had founded inEchternach(in modern-dayLuxembourg) while Boniface returned to Nursling.
Boniface returned to the continent the next year and went straight to Rome, wherePope Gregory IIrenamed him "Boniface", after the (legendary) fourth-century martyrBoniface of Tarsus, and appointed him missionary bishop forGermania—he became a bishop without a diocese for an area that lacked any church organization. He would never return to England, though he remained in correspondence with his countrymen and kinfolk throughout his life.
Saint Boniface of Mainz byAlbrecht De Vriendt
According to thevitaeBoniface felled theDonar Oak, Latinized by Willibald as "Jupiter's oak", near the present-day town ofFritzlarin northernHesse. According to his early biographer Willibald, Boniface started to chop the oak down, when suddenly a great wind, by miracle, blew the ancient oak over. When the gods did not strike him down, the people were amazed and converted to Christianity. He built a church from its wood at the site[23]—the church was the beginning of the monastery in Fritzlar. This account from thevitais stylised to portray Boniface as a singular character who alone acts to root out paganism. Lutz von Padberg and others claim that what thevitaeleave out is that the action was most likely well-prepared and widely publicized in advance for maximum effect, and that Boniface had little reason to fear for his personal safety since the Frankish fortified settlement ofBüraburgwas nearby.[24]According to Willibald, Boniface later had a church with an attached monastery built in Fritzlar,[25]on the site of the previously built chapel, according to tradition.[26]
Boniface and the Carolingians
Fulda Sacramentary, Saint Boniface baptising (top) and being martyred (bottom)
The support of theFrankishmayors of the palace, and later the earlyPippinidsand the Carolingian dynasty, was essential for Boniface's work. Boniface had been under the protection ofCharles Martelfrom 723 onwards.[27]The Christian Frankish leaders desired to defeat their rival power, the pagan Saxons, and to incorporate the Saxon lands into their own growing empire. Boniface's campaign of destruction ofindigenous Germanic pagansites may have benefited the Franks in their campaign against the Saxons.
In 732, Boniface traveled again to Rome to report, andPope Gregory IIIconferred upon him thepalliumas archbishop with jurisdiction over what is now Germany. Boniface again set out for the German lands and continued his mission, but also used his authority to work on the relations between the papacy and the Frankish church. Rome wanted more control over that church, which it felt was much too independent and which, in the eyes of Boniface, was subject to worldly corruption.Charles Martel, after having defeated the forces of theUmayyad Caliphateduring theBattle of Tours(732), had rewarded many churches and monasteries with lands, but typically his supporters who held church offices were allowed to benefit from those possessions. Boniface would have to wait until the 740s before he could try to address this situation, in which Frankish church officials were essentiallysinecures, and the church itself paid little heed to Rome. During his third visit to Rome in 737–38, he was madepapal legatefor Germany.[28]
After Boniface's third trip to Rome, Charles Martel established four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg,Regensburg,Freising, andPassau) and gave them to Boniface asarchbishopandmetropolitanover all Germany east of the Rhine. In 745, he was granted Mainz as metropolitan see.[29]In 742, one of his disciples,Sturm(also known as Sturmi, or Sturmius), founded theabbey of Fuldanot far from Boniface's earlier missionary outpost at Fritzlar. Although Sturm was the founding abbot of Fulda, Boniface was very involved in the foundation. The initial grant for the abbey was signed byCarloman, the son ofCharles Martel, and a supporter of Boniface's reform efforts in the Frankish church. Boniface himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without the protection of Charles Martel he could "neither administer his church, defend his clergy, nor prevent idolatry".
According to German historian Gunther Wolf, the high point of Boniface's career was theConcilium Germanicum, organized by Carloman in an unknown location in April 743. Although Boniface was not able to safeguard the church from property seizures by the local nobility, he did achieve one goal, the adoption of stricter guidelines for the Frankish clergy,[30]who often hailed directly from the nobility. After Carloman's resignation in 747 he maintained a sometimes turbulent relationship with the king of the Franks,Pepin the Short; the claim that he would have crowned Pepin atSoissonsin 751 is now generally discredited.[31]
Boniface balanced this support and attempted to maintain some independence, however, by attaining the support of the papacy and of theAgilolfingsofBavaria. In Frankish, Hessian, and Thuringian territory, he established the diocese ofWürzburg(741).[32]By appointing his own followers as bishops, he was able to retain some independence from the Carolingians, who most likely were content to give him leeway as long as Christianity was imposed on the Saxons and other Germanic tribes.
Last mission to Frisia
Saint Boniface crypt, FuldaExcerpt from theRagyndrudis Codex. It bears parallel nail holes on the margins of each page.
According to thevitae, Boniface had never relinquished his hope of converting theFrisians, and in 754 he set out with a retinue for Frisia. He baptized a great number and summoned a general meeting for confirmation at a place not far fromDokkum, betweenFranekerandGroningen. However, instead of his converts, a group of armed robbers appeared and slew the aged archbishop. Thevitaemention that Boniface persuaded his (armed) comrades to lay down their arms: "Cease fighting. Lay down your arms, for we are told in Scripture not to render evil for evil but to overcome evil by good."[33]
Having killed Boniface and his company, the Frisian bandits ransacked their possessions but found that the company's luggage did not contain the riches they had hoped for: "they broke open the chests containing the books and found, to their dismay, that they held manuscripts instead of gold vessels, pages of sacred texts instead of silver plates."[34]They attempted to destroy these books, the earliestvitaalready says, and this account underlies the status of theRagyndrudis Codex, now held as a Bonifacian relic in Fulda, and supposedly one of three books found on the field by the Christians who inspected it afterward. Of those three books, the Ragyndrudis Codex shows incisions that could have been made by sword or axe; its story appears confirmed in the Utrecht hagiography, theVita altera, which reports that an eye-witness saw that the saint at the moment of death held up agospelas spiritual protection.[35]The story was later repeated by Otloh'svita; at that time, the Ragyndrudis Codex seems to have been firmly connected to the martyrdom.[citation needed]
Boniface's remains were moved from the Frisian countryside to Utrecht, and then to Mainz, where sources contradict each other regarding the behavior ofLullus, Boniface's successor as archbishop of Mainz. According to Willibald'svitaLullus allowed the body to be moved to Fulda, while in the (later)Vita Sturmi, a hagiography of Sturm byEigil of Fulda, Lullus attempted to block the move and keep the body in Mainz.[36]
His remains were eventually buried in the abbey church of Fulda after resting for some time inUtrecht, and they are entombed within a shrine beneath the high altar ofFulda Cathedral, previously the abbey church. There is good reason to believe that the Gospel he held up was theCodex Sangallensis56, which shows damage to the upper margin, which has been cut back as a form of repair.[citation needed]
Veneration
Fulda
Statue of St. Boniface by Johann Kaspar Hiernle (1750) at Mainz Cathedral
Veneration of Boniface in Fulda began immediately after his death; his grave was equipped with a decorative tomb around ten years after his burial, and the grave and relics became the center of the abbey. Fulda monks prayed for newly elected abbots at the grave site before greeting them, and every Monday the saint was remembered in prayer, the monks prostrating themselves and recitingPsalm 50. After the abbey church was rebuilt to become theRatgar Basilica(dedicated 791), Boniface's remains weretranslatedto a new grave: since the church had been enlarged, his grave, originally in the west, was now in the middle; his relics were moved to a newapsein 819. From then on Boniface, aspatronof the abbey, was regarded as both spiritual intercessor for the monks and legal owner of the abbey and its possessions, and all donations to the abbey were done in his name. He was honored on the date of his martyrdom, 5 June (with a mass written byAlcuin), and (around the year 1000) with a mass dedicated to his appointment as bishop, on 1 December.[37]
Dokkum
Willibald'svitadescribes how a visitor on horseback came to the site of the martyrdom, and a hoof of his horse got stuck in the mire. When it was pulled loose, a well sprang up. By the time of theVita altera Bonifatii(9th century), there was a church on the site, and the well had become a "fountain of sweet water" used to sanctify people. TheVita Liudgeri, a hagiographical account of the work ofLudger, describes how Ludger himself had built the church, sharing duties with two other priests. According to James Palmer, the well was of great importance since the saint's body was hundreds of miles away; the physicality of the well allowed for an ongoing connection with the saint. In addition, Boniface signified Dokkum's and Frisia's "connect[ion] to the rest of (Frankish) Christendom".[38]
Memorials
Saint Boniface'sfeast dayis celebrated on 5 June in the RomanCatholic Church, theLutheran Church, theAnglican Communionand theEastern Orthodox Church.
A famous statue of Saint Boniface stands on the grounds ofMainz Cathedral, seat of thearchbishop of Mainz. A more modern rendition stands facing St. Peter's Church of Fritzlar.
Saint Boniface memorial inFritzlar, Germany
The UK National Shrine is located at the Catholic church atCrediton, Devon, which has abas-reliefof the felling of Thor's Oak, by sculptor Kenneth Carter. The sculpture was unveiled byPrincess Margaretin his nativeCrediton, located in Newcombes Meadow Park. There is also a series of paintings there by Timothy Moore. There are quite a few churches dedicated to St. Boniface in the United Kingdom:Bunbury, Cheshire;Chandler's FordandSouthamptonHampshire; Adler Street, London;Papa Westray, Orkney;St Budeaux, Plymouth (now demolished);Bonchurch, Isle of Wight;Cullompton, Devon.
St Boniface Down, thehighest pointin theIsle of Wight, is named after him.[39]
BishopGeorge ErringtonfoundedSt Boniface's Catholic College, Plymouth in 1856. The school celebrates Saint Boniface on 5 June each year.
In 1818, FatherNorbert Provencherfounded a mission on the east bank of theRed Riverin what was thenRupert's Land, building a log church and naming it after St. Boniface. The log church was consecrated asSaint Boniface Cathedralafter Provencher was himself consecrated as a bishop and thediocesewas formed. The community that grew around the cathedral eventually became the city ofSaint Boniface, which merged into the city ofWinnipegin 1971. In 1844, fourGrey Nunsarrived by canoe in Manitoba, and in 1871, built Western Canada's first hospital:St. Boniface Hospital, where the Assiniboine and Red Rivers meet. Today, St. Boniface is regarded as Winnipeg's main French-speaking district and the centre of theFranco-Manitobaincommunity, and St. Boniface Hospital is the second-largest hospital in Manitoba.
Boniface (Wynfrith) ofCreditonisrememberedin theChurch of Englandwith aLesser Festivalon5 June.[40]
Legends
Saint Boniface statue inFulda, Germany
Some traditions credit Saint Boniface with the invention of theChristmas tree. It is mentioned on aBBC-Devon website, in an account which placesGeismarinBavaria,[41]and in a number of educational books, includingSt. Boniface and the Little Fir Tree,[42]The Brightest Star of All: Christmas Stories for the Family,[43]The American normal readers,[44]and a short story byHenry van Dyke, "The First Christmas Tree".[45]
Sources and writings
Vitae
The earliest "Life" of Boniface was written by a certain Willibald, an Anglo-Saxon priest who came toMainzafter Boniface's death,[46]around 765. Willibald's biography was widely dispersed; Levison lists some forty manuscripts.[47]According to his lemma, a group of four manuscripts includingCodex Monacensis1086 are copies directly from the original.[48]
Listed second in Levison's edition is the entry from a late ninth-century Fulda document: Boniface's status as a martyr is attested by his inclusion in theFulda Martyrologywhich also lists, for instance, the date (1 November) of histranslationin 819, when theFulda Cathedralhad been rebuilt.[49]AVita Bonifaciiwas written in Fulda in the ninth century, possibly byCandidus of Fulda, but is now lost.[50]
The nextvita, chronologically, is theVita altera Bonifatii auctore Radbodo, which originates in theBishopric of Utrecht, and was probably revised byRadboud of Utrecht(899–917). Mainly agreeing with Willibald, it adds an eye-witness who presumably saw the martyrdom at Dokkum. TheVita tertia Bonifatiilikewise originates in Utrecht. It is dated between 917 (Radboud's death) and 1075, the yearAdam of Bremenwrote hisGesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, which used theVita tertia.[51][52]
A latervita, written byOtloh of St. Emmeram(1062–1066), is based on Willibald's and a number of othervitaeas well as the correspondence, and also includes information from local traditions.
Correspondence
Boniface engaged in regular correspondence with fellow churchmen all over Western Europe, including the three popes he worked with, and with some of his kinsmen back in England. Many of these letters contain questions about church reform and liturgical or doctrinal matters. In most cases, what remains is one half of the conversation, either the question or the answer. The correspondence as a whole gives evidence of Boniface's widespread connections; some of the letters also prove an intimate relationship especially with female correspondents.[53]
There are 150 letters in what is generally called the Bonifatian correspondence, though not all them are by Boniface or addressed to him. They were assembled by order of archbishopLullus, Boniface's successor in Mainz, and were initially organized into two parts, a section containing the papal correspondence and another with his private letters. They were reorganized in the eighth century, in a roughly chronological ordering. Otloh of St. Emmeram, who worked on a newvitaof Boniface in the eleventh century, is credited with compiling the complete correspondence as we have it.[53]Much of this correspondence comprises the first part of theVienna Boniface Codex, also known asCodex Vindobonensis 751.
The correspondence was edited and published already in the seventeenth century, by Nicolaus Serarius.[54]Stephan Alexander Würdtwein's 1789 edition,Epistolae S. Bonifacii Archiepiscopi Magontini, was the basis for a number of (partial) translations in the nineteenth century. The first version to be published byMonumenta Germaniae Historica(MGH) was the edition by Ernst Dümmler (1892); the most authoritative version until today is Michael Tangl's 1912Die Briefe des Heiligen Bonifatius, Nach der Ausgabe in den Monumenta Germaniae Historica, published by MGH in 1916.[53]This edition is the basis ofEphraim Emerton's selection and translation in English,The Letters of Saint Boniface, first published in New York in 1940; it was republished most recently with a new introduction by Thomas F.X. Noble in 2000.
Included among his letters and dated to 716 is one to AbbessEdburga of Minster-in-Thanetcontaining theVision of the Monk ofWenlock.[55]This otherworld vision describes how a violently ill monk is freed from his body and guided by angels to a place of judgment, where angels and devils fight over his soul as his sins and virtues come alive to accuse and defend him. He sees a hell of purgation full of pits vomiting flames. There is a bridge over a pitch-black boiling river. Souls either fall from it or safely reach the other side cleansed of their sins. This monk even sees some of his contemporary monks and is told to warn them to repent before they die. This vision bears signs of influence by theApocalypse of Paul, the visions from theDialoguesofGregory the Great, and the visions recorded byBede.[56]
Sermons
Main article:Sermones (Pseudo)-Bonifatii
Some fifteen preserved sermons are traditionally associated with Boniface, but that they were actually his is not generally accepted.
Grammar and poetry
Early in his career, before he left for the continent, Boniface wrote theArs Bonifacii, a grammatical treatise presumably for his students in Nursling.Helmut Gneussreports that one manuscript copy of the treatise originates from (the south of) England, mid-eighth century; it is now held inMarburg, in theHessisches Staatsarchiv.[57]He also wrote a treatise on verse, theCaesurae uersuum, and a collection of twenty acrosticriddles, theEnigmata, influenced greatly byAldhelmand containing many references to works ofVergil(theAeneid, theGeorgics, and theEclogues).[58]The riddles fall into two sequences of ten poems. The first,De virtutibus('on the virtues'), comprises: 1.de ueritate/truth; 2.de fide catholica/the Catholic faith; 3.de spe/hope; 4.de misericordia/compassion; 5.de caritate/love; 6.de iustitia/justice; 7.de patientia/patience; 8.de pace uera, cristiana/true, Christian peace; 9.de humilitate cristiania/Christian humility; 10.de uirginitate/virginity. The second sequence,De vitiis('on the vices'), comprises: 1.de neglegentia/carelessness; 2.de iracundia/hot temper; 3.de cupiditate/greed; 4.de superbia/pride; 5.de crapula/intemperance; 6.de ebrietate/drunkenness; 7.de luxoria/fornication; 8.de inuidia/envy; 9.de ignorantia/ignorance; 10.de uana gloria/vainglory.[59]
Three octosyllabic poems written in clearlyAldhelmianfashion (according toAndy Orchard) are preserved in his correspondence, all composed before he left for the continent.[60]
Additional materials
A letter by Boniface chargingAldebertand Clement with heresy is preserved in the records of the Roman Council of 745 that condemned the two.[61]Boniface had an interest in the Irish canon law collection known asCollectio canonum Hibernensis, and a late eighth/early ninth-century manuscript inWürzburgcontains, besides a selection from theHibernensis, a list of rubrics that mention the heresies of Clemens and Aldebert. The relevant folios containing these rubrics were most likely copied in Mainz, Würzburg, or Fulda—all places associated with Boniface.[61]Michael Glatthaarsuggested that the rubrics should be seen as Boniface's contribution to the agenda for a synod.[62]
Anniversary and other celebrations
Boniface's death (and birth) has given rise to a number of noteworthy celebrations. The dates for some of these celebrations have undergone some changes: in 1805, 1855, and 1905 (and in England in 1955) anniversaries were calculated with Boniface's death dated in 755, according to the "Mainz tradition"; in Mainz,Michael Tangl's dating of the martyrdom in 754 was not accepted until after 1955. Celebrations in Germany centered on Fulda and Mainz, in the Netherlands on Dokkum and Utrecht, and in England on Crediton and Exeter.
Celebrations in Germany: 1805, 1855, 1905
Medal minted for the Boniface anniversary in Fulda, 1905
The first German celebration on a fairly large scale was held in 1805 (the 1,050th anniversary of his death), followed by a similar celebration in a number of towns in 1855; both of these were predominantly Catholic affairs emphasizing the role of Boniface in German history. But if the celebrations were mostly Catholic, in the first part of the 19th century the respect for Boniface in general was an ecumenical affair, with both Protestants and Catholics praising Boniface as a founder of the German nation, in response to the German nationalism that arose after the Napoleonic era came to an end. The second part of the 19th century saw increased tension between Catholics and Protestants; for the latter,Martin Lutherhad become the model German, the founder of the modern nation, and he and Boniface were in direct competition for the honor.[63]In 1905, when strife between Catholic and Protestant factions had eased (one Protestant church published a celebratory pamphlet, Gerhard Ficker'sBonifatius, der "Apostel der Deutschen"), there were modest celebrations and a publication for the occasion on historical aspects of Boniface and his work, the 1905Festgabeby Gregor Richter and Carl Scherer. In all, the content of these early celebrations showed evidence of the continuing question about the meaning of Boniface for Germany, though the importance of Boniface in cities associated with him was without question.[64]
1954 celebrations
In 1954, celebrations were widespread in England, Germany, and the Netherlands, and a number of these celebrations were international affairs. Especially in Germany, these celebrations had a distinctly political note to them and often stressed Boniface as a kind of founder of Europe, such as whenKonrad Adenauer, the (Catholic) German chancellor, addressed a crowd of 60,000 in Fulda, celebrating the feast day of the saint in a European context:Das, was wir in Europa gemeinsam haben, [ist] gemeinsamen Ursprungs("What we have in common in Europe comes from the same source").[65]
1980 papal visit
WhenPope John Paul IIvisited Germanyin November 1980, he spent two days in Fulda (17 and 18 November). He celebrated Mass in Fulda Cathedral with 30,000 gathered on the square in front of the building, and met with theGerman Bishops' Conference(held in Fulda since 1867). The pope next celebrated mass outside the cathedral, in front of an estimated crowd of 100,000, and hailed the importance of Boniface for German Christianity:Der heilige Bonifatius, Bischof und Märtyrer, 'bedeutet' den 'Anfang' des Evangeliums und der Kirche in Eurem Land("The holy Boniface, bishop and martyr, 'signifies' the beginning of the gospel and the church in your country").[66]A photograph of the pope praying at Boniface's grave became the centerpiece of a prayer card distributed from the cathedral.
2004 celebrations
In 2004, anniversary celebrations were held throughout Northwestern Germany and Utrecht, and Fulda and Mainz—generating a great amount of academic and popular interest. The event occasioned a number of scholarly studies, esp. biographies (for instance, by Auke Jelsma in Dutch, Lutz von Padberg in German, and Klaas Bruinsma in Frisian), and a fictional completion of the Boniface correspondence (Lutterbach,Mit Axt und Evangelium).[67]A German musical proved a great commercial success,[68]and in the Netherlands an opera was staged.[69]
Scholarship on Boniface
There is an extensive body of literature on the saint and his work. At the time of the various anniversaries, edited collections were published containing essays by some of the best-known scholars of the time, such as the 1954 collectionSankt Bonifatius: Gedenkgabe zum Zwölfhundertsten Todestag[70]and the 2004 collectionBonifatius — Vom Angelsächsischen Missionar zum Apostel der Deutschen.[71]In the modern era,Lutz von Padbergpublished a number of biographies and articles on the saint focusing on his missionary praxis and his relics. The most authoritative biography remainsTheodor Schieffer'sWinfrid-Bonifatius und die Christliche Grundlegung Europas(1954).[72][73]
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