Stay Centered in Faith – honor the Feast Day of St. Boniface, bishop, missionary, and martyr (675-754) on June 5th.
Recall the words of this saint from long ago, which remain meaningful today as we work to stay centered in Christ, “The church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life’s different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship, but to keep her on course.”
Saint Boniface was born Wynfrid in the year 675, to an affluent family in England and studied at a Benedictine abbey.
He became head of the Benedictine school that formed him and director of the monastery. He was ordained to the priesthood at the age of 30. He felt a strong pull from God to be a missionary. So, he went to Northern Netherlands and Germany (the region of Frisia) to begin his work. War forced him to return to England for a few years, but he did not give up.
He journeyed to Rome to ask the pope to tell him where to serve. Pope Gregory II changed the saint’s birth name of Wynfrid to Boniface, which means “a man who does good deeds.” Then he sent Boniface to eastern Germany. For nearly 35 years, Boniface traveled all over Germany, preaching, teaching, and building schools, monasteries, and convents. He went to Rome to report to the pope about his work. There, the pope ordained him bishop and returned him to Germany. Boniface invited monks and sisters from England to go too.
As an old man, Boniface returned to where his work began – Frisia – to work among the pagans. He became known as the Apostle of the Germans. One morning, just before celebrating the sacrament of Holy Confirmation, a group of men rushed into the church and murdered Boniface and about 50 converts.
Recall the words of this saint from long ago, which remain meaningful today as we work to stay centered in Christ, “The church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life’s different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship, but to keep her on course.”
