St Boniface and the German mission

Extract

On this, the anniversary of the bringing to Mainz of the martyred body of St Boniface, it seems appropriate that any remarks about the Anglo-Saxon mission to Germany should be confined to his activities alone. Unfortunately, the story of his life has been told by many people at many times, and in default of new facts and documents, it is not possible to do more than repeat what is already well known.

To me the life of St Boniface appears to fall into three main periods: his mission from Gregory II to preach the gospel ‘ad quascumque gentes infidelitatis errore detentas’; his work in Thuringia among a partly christianized people; and his organization of the Church in Germany together with the reform of the Frankish Church. In other words, his activities as priest, as bishop, and as archbishop. These three divisions illustrate not only the problems he had to face, but also the methods with which he attacked them.