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St 

Boniface of Crediton, Archbishop of Mentz, Apostle of Germany, martyr

Feast day June 5

The English name of this saint was Wynfrith (c. 672 - June 5, 754 or 755). The son of a West-Saxon chieftain, he was educated at the Benedictine monastery at Exeter, England, and became a monk there. In 715, he set out on a missionary expedition to Frisia, intending to convert the local pagans by preaching to them in their own language, his own Anglo-Saxon language being similar to Frisian, but his efforts were frustrated by the war then being carried on between Charles Martel and Radbod, king of the Frisians.

In 718, he went to Rome via France. He formed in Rome a lasting friendship with the Anglo-Saxon princess-nun Eadburga, best known by her unfortunate nickname of Bugga. He was commissioned by Pope Gregory II to do missionary work in Germany and reorganise the church there. He made converts of the people of Thuringia, Hesse, and Frisia. Among his Anglo-Saxon nuns was St Walpurgis whose feast day, April 30, is the German witching day, similar to Halloween. He became a bishop, then later Archbishop of Mainz, and he founded or restored the dioceses of Bavaria, Thuringgia, and Franconia.

Destruction of sacred sites

Boniface is remembered for destroying idols and pagan temples, and building Christian churches on the sites. In 722, at the forest of Geismar, Saxony, he felled the sacred oak dedicated to a Norse deity (some sources say Thor, others Woden/Odin) near the present-day town of Fritzlar in northern Hesse, building a chapel from its wood at the site where today stands the cathedral of Fritzlar, and establishing the first bishopric in Germany on a hill (Buraburg) facing the town across the Eder river.

The Hessians believed that their god would protect the tree, but Boniface was quite resolved to cut it down. Boniface walked up to the tree, removed his shirt, took up an axe, and without uttering a word chopped down the two-metre-wide wooden god. The saint defiantly stood on the trunk, and asked, "How stands your mighty god? My God is stronger than he." As they watched, the Christian fable has it, he took an axe to it and was aided by a huge gust of wind. The crowd's reaction was mixed, but some conversions were begun. What actually occurred we shall probably never know, but it seems that in the face of superior strength, the Hessians submitted to Christian authority. This event is commonly regarded as the beginning of German christianisation, and over the centuries has been lauded by the Church, rather than condemned for the religious arrogance it represents.

Thor's Oak and the Christmas tree
" ... as the tree split, a beautiful young fir tree sprang from its center. Saint Boniface told the people that this lovely evergreen, with its branches pointing to heaven, was indeed a holy tree, the tree of the Christ Child, a symbol of His promise of eternal life. He instructed them henceforth to carry the evergreen from the wilderness into their homes and to surround it with gifts, symbols of love and kindness."
Source: Legends of the First Christmas Trees

Frisians strike back 

Boniface evangelised in Holland, and never relinquished his hope of converting the Frisians to Christianity, so, in 754, he set out with a small retinue for their district. He baptized many of them and, in 754 or 755, summoned a general meeting for confirmation at a place not far from Dokkum, between Franeker and Groningen. On June 5, while he held the confirmation, he and his bodyguard were attacked by a troop of pagan Frieslander (Frisian) tribesmen, no doubt in anger or revenge for his treatment of them and their peers, or quite possibly for the Anglo-Christian interlopers' intrusion on their ancestral lands. Some kind of battle ensued and Boniface and 52 of his new flock were slaughtered – martyred, in the Christian parlance.

Catholic Forum tells us of an old tale in which Saint Boniface used the customs of the locals to help win them over to Christian beliefs. There was a game in which they threw sticks called kegels at smaller sticks called heides. Boniface bought religion to the game, having the heides represent demons, and knocking them down showing purity of spirit.  

Tamer of tribes

St Boniface is represented in art with an axe, or else a book, fountain, fox, oak, raven, scourge, or sword. He is the patron saint of Germany (and also brewers and tailors), and may well be seen as a symbol of the repression of Nature-centred faiths by the early Christian church, and also of the process of deforestation and the medieval conquest of indigenous peoples of Europe (he has been called the 'tamer of tribes').

Unfortunately, as the victims of displacement from forested lands, and of religious repression, were generally illiterate, records of the persecution of pagans in medieval Europe are scanty.  

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St Valentine's Day  

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St James, folklore and the pilgrimage of Compostela

St Patrick's Day  St Brendan the Voyager

The 'Seven Sleepers' saints

The Horned God and Western Saints

St Ursula & the Bear Goddess

How are other ancient gods like Jesus?

The Virgin Mary as Goddess