From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   June 5th - St. Boniface, Bishop, Martyr   
      
   St. Boniface lived from around 680 to 754. He was born Winfred in the   
   Kingdom of   
   Wessex (now Devon), England. At age 7 he entered the monastery of   
   Adescancastre   
   on the site of present day Exeter. Seven years later he went to the Abbey of   
   Nhutscelle. Here, under the direction of the holy Abbot Winbert, his fame   
   for   
   knowledge and preaching grew.   
      
   He set aside, however, prospects of the highest dignities in his own   
   country,   
   because he felt the vocation to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons in Germany.   
   By   
   the order of Pope Gregory II he dedicated himself to their conversion. He   
   helped   
   Charles Martel in the reform of the Church in France and convened councils   
   to   
   combat simony.   
      
   In 719 the monk Winfred took this oath to Pope Gregory II in Rome, when he   
   was   
   made Bishop and given the name of Boniface:   
      
   "In the name of the Lord Our God and Savior Jesus Christ. In the sixth year   
   of   
   the reign of Emperor Leo IV and of his son Constantine, I, Boniface, Bishop   
   by   
   the grace of God, promise to thee, Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles,   
   and to   
   thy Vicar, the blessed Pope Gregory and his successors, by the indivisible   
   Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and by Thy Sacred Body here present,   
   that I   
   will conserve the purity of the holy Catholic Faith, and I will remain   
   steadfast   
   in the unity of this belief, in which indubitably lies the salvation of all   
   Christians. I will never attack the unity of the Catholic Church, no matter   
   who   
   may seek to persuade me, but will maintain a complete fidelity to it, and a   
   sincere commitment to thee and the interests of thy Church.   
      
    "To thee and thy successors the Lord gave the power to bind and unbind. I   
   promise that I will never have communion with bishops who go astray from the   
   ancient practices established by the Holy Fathers, and that, if I can, I   
   will   
   prevent their actions. If I cannot, I will denounce them to the Pope my   
   Lord. If   
   in any way, God forbid, I should act in opposition to this oath, let me   
   assume   
   the guilt before the judgment of God, receiving the chastisements of Ananias   
   and   
   Saphira, who lied to thee.   
      
   "I Boniface, humble Bishop, sign by my own hand the formula of this oath and   
   place it over the body of Blessed Peter. As prescribed, I make this oath   
   before   
   God, who is Judge and Witness. I promise to fulfill it well."   
      
   Pope Gregory II wrote this letter to present St. Boniface in his commission   
   to   
   evangelize Germany and reorganize the Church there:   
      
   "If anyone, God forbid, either oppose the work of Bishop Boniface, or thwart   
   his   
   ministry or that of his successors in the apostolate, by the Divine Judge,   
   let   
   him be anathema and subject to eternal condemnation."   
      
   St. Boniface suffered martyrdom in Frisia in 754. His body rests in the   
   cathedral crypt in Fulda, where he is venerated by all Catholic Germany. He   
   is   
   the patron saint of Germany and the Netherlands.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   For you to have an idea of the role of this saint in the foundation of the   
   Middle Ages, perhaps it is worthwhile to insert the data of this selection   
   into   
   the larger panorama of the times.   
      
   First, St. Boniface was a monk in an epoch when the monastic life was the   
   most   
   dynamic force of the Church. This energy came from the great monasteries of   
   monks who lived a recollected life. The characteristic note of the   
   Benedictine   
   monasteries, unlike today, was to live away from the cities, in places of   
   solitude. Given their prestige, often entire villages or even cities would   
   grow   
   up around those isolated convents.   
      
   Therefore, St. Boniface was an active participant in the most important   
   ecclesiastical movement of his time, which brought the Middle Ages to its   
   apogee.   
      
   Second, St. Boniface was a missionary. One of the great works of the Middle   
   Ages   
   was the evangelization of the barbarian peoples. At his time, most of Europe   
   beyond the Rhine and Danube Rivers was barbarian, as barbarian as the   
   Indians   
   who still live today in the South American forests. The work of conversion   
   and   
   civilization of those peoples was enormous and had great value. One can   
   measure   
   this value considering the magnificent fruits these peoples gave for   
   Christendom   
   after their conversion. This work, in great part, was the work of monks, and   
   particularly the work of this one monk who was St. Boniface.   
      
   Third, the part of Europe constituted by France, Italy, England and some of   
   Spain was Catholic and constituted a first Christendom. However, that   
   Christendom was putrid. It had inherited the rottenness of the Roman Empire.   
   One   
   of the most pernicious vices of the time was simony, and St. Boniface   
   exerted an   
   important role in combating the plague of simony.   
      
   What is simony? It is the selling of ecclesiastical positions and charges.   
   Cardinals would sell dioceses to bishops; bishops would sell positions to   
   priests, etc. St. Boniface convoked regional councils to eradicate simony   
   from   
   France. Here also, he revealed his greatness and valor.   
      
   He lived in a great epoch for the Church, because she accomplished momentous   
   works. In most of these works, St. Boniface was present and played a capital   
   role.   
      
   Now that you understand the grandeur of this man, let us analyze the   
   beautiful   
   oath he made to Pope Gregory II when he was consecrated Bishop.   
      
   That oath is beautiful because it is an act of Faith he made with regard to   
   the   
   Catholic Church and the Roman See. He promised to be always faithful to the   
   Papacy. Then he promised to never have any common ground with bad bishops.   
   Further, he promised to try to prevent those bishops from spreading their   
   bad   
   influence and, if he were unsuccessful, to denounce them to the Pope. That   
   is,   
   he vowed a total war against evil bishops.   
      
   Then, after manifesting his fidelity, he called down a chastisement upon   
   himself   
   if he were not faithful: the chastisement of Ananias and Saphira. What kind   
   of   
   punishment was that? The Acts of the Apostles report that Ananias and   
   Saphira   
   were a married couple who had many goods. They presented themselves to St.   
   Peter   
   to be received into the Catholic community, delivering a certain part of   
   their   
   goods, and affirmed: "This is all we have, and we give this to the Church."   
   St.   
   Peter told them: "You lie to the Holy Ghost, because I know that you   
   secretly   
   reserved a part of your goods for yourselves." And the two were struck dead   
   by   
   God.   
      
   St. Boniface mentioned this episode because in his oath, he was saying to   
   St.   
   Peter, "I have given everything to the Church." So, his donation was similar   
   to   
   that which Ananias and Saphira pretended to have made. He faced that   
   analogy,   
   indicating that if, per chance, he was reserving anything for himself, he   
   would   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)