Boniface

Early missions on the European Continent

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The Irish monks did not confine their activities to the British Isles. Columbanus (543-615) led a company of twelve monks into Gaul. For a time his revival was popular among the princes as well as the general population. Irish missionaries evangelized and founded monasteries on both sides of the Rhine and beyond in Switzerland and even northern Italy. St. Gall in Switzerland and Bobbio in Italy became famous centers of monastic learning. Eventually, leadership passed from the Irish to Roman missionaries. Among these missionaries, no one accomplished as much as Boniface. First in pagan Frisia and Thuringia and then into Hesse, he wrestled with the pagan customs of the people, built Christian churches, and sent for monks and nuns from England. He was made a bishop and then archbishop, and is known in history as the Apostle to the Germans.

Impact: The evangelized tribes were, in many cases, nominal believers who retained many pagan customs. But, over time, churches took root and and Christianity thrived.

Boniface, Winfrid

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Winfrid Boniface (680-755), the apostle of Germany, was born in Devonshire, England and became a monk after studying grammar and theology at Exeter. For a time he was a missionary to Frisia, an area comprised mostly of the modern Netherlands. In 719 Pope Gregory II commissioned him to evangelize Germany where he preached successfully for about three years. In 722, after converting a number of chieftains, Gregory consecrated him bishop. From this point he expanded his mission by founding numerous churches and monasteries and bringing in a number English missionary monks and nuns. After being named archbishop in 732 he organized the churches in Bavaria into the four bishoprics of Regensburg, Freising, Salzburg, and Passau. In 741 Pope Zacharias made him legate and charged him with the reformation of the whole Frankish church. In 753 he returned to Frisia to continue the evangelistic efforts he had begun many years earlier. Sadly, in 755, he and a group of missionaries were killed by a band of pagans who opposed their efforts. He died bringing the Gospel to the German people but his message took root and the churches, schools, and monasteries he founded had a great and lasting impact.