[Rank]
S. Bonifacii Episc. Mart.;;Duplex;;3;;vide C2

[Rule]
vide C2;
9 lectiones

[Oratio]
O God, Who wast pleased to make the zeal of thy blessed Martyr and Bishop Boniface the mean whereby Thou didst cause many peoples to know thy Name, mercifully grant unto us who solemnly keep holiday for his memory, to be feelingly helpen by the succor of his protection.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
Winfried, afterwards called Boniface, was an Englishman, and born in England, towards the end of the seventh century. From his very childhood, he turned away from the world, and set his heart upon becoming a monk. His father tried in vain to turn him from his wishes by the beguilements of the world, and he entered a Monastery, where the Blessed Wolphard instructed him in all godliness and divers kinds of learning. At the age of twenty-nine years he was ordained Priest, and became an unwearied preacher of the Word of God, wherein he had a gift which he used with great gain of souls. Nevertheless, his great desire was to spread the kingdom of Christ, and he continually bewailed the vast number of savages who were plunged in the darkness of ignorance and were the servants of the devil. This zealous love of souls increased in him in intensity day by day, till nothing would serve him, but, having implored the blessing of God by tears and prayers, and obtained authority from the head of his monastery, to set forth for the coast of Germany.

[Lectio5]
He set sail from England with two companions (in the year 716) and reached the town of Dorestadt in Friesland. A great war being then raging between Radbod, King of the Frieslanders, and Charles Martel, Winfrid preached the Gospel in vain. He went back to England, and betook himself again to his Monastery, whereof he was, against his own will, chosen to be the head. After two years he obtained the consent of the Bishop of Winchester to resign his office, and (in 719) went to Rome, to seek an Apostolic commission to preach to the heathen. When he arrived at the city he was courteously welcomed by Gregory II., who changed his name from Winfrid to Boniface. He departed thence to Germany, and preached Christ to the tribes in Thuringia and Saxony. Radbod, King of Friesland, who bitterly hated the Christian name, being dead, Boniface went a second time among the Frieslanders, and there, with his comrade St Willibrord, preached the Gospel for three years with so much fruit, that the idols were hewn down, and countless churches arose to the true God.

[Lectio6]
Willibrord urged upon him to take the office of a Bishop, but he deferred to seek it, that he might the more instantly toil for the salvation of the unbelievers. Advancing into Germany, he reclaimed thousands of the Hessians from devil-worship. Pope Gregory sent for him to Rome, (whither he came in 723,) and after hearing a noble profession of his faith, consecrated him a Bishop. He again returned to Germany, and thoroughly purged Hesse and Thuringia from all remains of idolatry. On account of such great works Gregory III. advanced Boniface to the dignity of an Archbishop, and on the occasion of a third journey to Rome, (in 738,) he was invested by the Sovereign Pontiff with the powers of Legate of the Apostolic See. As such, he founded (the) four Bishopricks (of Erfurt, Paderborn, Wurtzburg, and Eichstadt,) and held divers Synods, among which is especially to be remembered that of Lessines, held in Belgium, in the diocese of Cambrai, wherein he made his strongest endeavours to spread the Faith among the Belgians. By Pope Zacharias, he was named Archbishop of Maintz, and by command of the same Pope, he anointed Pepin to be King of the Franks. After the death of St Willibrord, he undertook the government of the Church of Utrecht, at first through Eoban but he afterwards was released from the care of the Church of Maintz and established his see at Utrecht. The Frieslanders having again fallen back into idolatry, he once more betook himself to preach the Gospel among them, and while he was busied in this duty, he grasped the crown of martyrdom, being murdered by some ungodly savages, along with his fellow-Bishop Eoban, and many others, in a bloody massacre near the River Born, (on the th day of June, in the year of our Lord 755, and of his own age the 75th.) In accordance with the wish expressed by himself during life the body of St Boniface was carried to Maintz, and buried in the monastery of Fulda, of which he had been the founder, and where God has gloriously honoured it by the working of many signs and wonders. Pope Pius IX. ordered the Office and Mass in bis memory to be used throughout the whole Church.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 5:1-12
At that time Jesus, seeing the multitudes, went up into a mountain, and, when He was set, His disciples came unto Him. And so on.
_
Homily by St Austin, Bishop (of Hippo.)
!Bk. i. on the Lord's Sermon.)
 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. What fools then be they that seek God with their outward eyes, since it is in the heart that He is seen, as it is written elsewhere In simplicity of heart seek Him. (Wisd. i. i.) A simple heart is a pure heart. And even as we cannot see this earthly light, unless the eyes be open, so cannot God be seen, unless that be open which alone can perceive Him. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. The perfection of peace is the absence of contrariety, and the peacemakers are called the children of God because they offer no contrariety against the will of God. As beseemeth children, they have their Father's likeness.

[Lectio8]
They are peacemakers in themselves, who order all the movements of their own mind in obedience to reason, that is, to their intellect and soul, and so doing, and taming the lusts of the flesh, become a kingdom for God. In such kingdom all things are so ordered, that the chiefest and noblest part of man ruleth without contention over those lower things which we have in common with beasts. And just in the same way, must that nobler part of man, that is to say, intellect and reason, needs be put in subjection to what is above it, namely, Truth, the Only begotten Son of God. He only can rule well who hath learnt to obey. And this ordering is that peace which is given on earth to men of good will this is the life of whomsoever is thoroughly and perfectly wise.

[Lectio9]
From this most peaceful and most orderly kingdom is cast forth the prince of this world, whose rule is over the contentious and disorderly. When once this peace hath been proclaimed and established within, whatsoever wars he that is without can raise, can but heap more glory upon that glory which is according to God, for nothing of the castle will yield before him, but the yielding of his own engines will witness how strong be its ramparts. And therefore cometh next Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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[Lectio94]
Boniface, originally called Winfrid, was born in England towards the end of the seventh century. After entering a monastery and becoming a priest, he shewed great skill in winning souls through preaching. Burning with zeal to spread the faith, he preached the Gospel among the Frisians. Then he returned to England, where he ruled his monastery for two years in a most holy manner. Having resigned the office of Superior, he went to Rome, where he received from Gregory II the name of Boniface and the commission to proclaim Christ to the peoples of Thuringia and Saxony. With holy Willibrord, he returned to the Frisians and preached the Gospel with great fruit. Soon he was summoned to Rome and invested with the episcopal dignity ; after which, he set out once more for Germany. There he rid Hesse and Thuringia of almost the last vestiges of idolatry. He was made apostolic delegate and Archbishop of Mainz, and he built many churches, and administered them either personally or through his disciples. At length, he went back once again to the Frisians, who had lapsed into idolatry, to preach the Gospel to them. There, with Eobanus his fellow bishop and many others, he was killed in a bloody massacre near the River Born and received the crown of martyrdom. His body lieth in the monastery of Fulda. 
&teDeum
