The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

ST BONIFACE

St Boniface (the apostle of Germany) was an English missionary. He was born in 680 at Devonshire and died in 755. His original name was Winfrid and he was born of a noble Anglo-Saxon family. In his thirtieth year he took orders as a priest, and in 718 he went to Rome and was authorized by Gregory II to preach the gospel to the pagans of Germany. His labours were carried on in Thuringia, Bavaria, Friesland, Hesse, and Saxony, through all of which he travelled, baptizing thousands and consecrating churches. Latterly he erected bishoprics and organized provincial synods. In 723 he was made a bishop, and in 732 an archbishop and primate of all Germany. Many bishoprics of Germany, as Ratisbon, Erfurt, Paderborn, Wiirzburg, and others, and also the famous abbey of Fulda, owe their foundation to him. He was slain in West Friesland by some barbarians in 755, and was buried in the abbey of Fulda.
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