June 5: Boniface Cuts Down Thor's Oak To Convert The German Tribes
Did you know that an Englishman is the patron saint of Germany?
Welcome to This Blessed Day — the only daily Substack blog that focuses on Christian history and culture. It’s time to fight the paganism of the modern world by converting the atheists and educating the Christians.
On June 5th of the blessed year of our Lord 754, Saint Boniface was martyred — along with fifty-two of his Christian brethren — by pagans just before a church service.
Boniface was actually named Wynfrid when he was born in Wessex (now Devon, England) in 675. He resolved to be a priest when he was still a boy. He was educated at the abbey of Exeter, and then the abbey of Bursling — where he was eventually appointed the head of the school. He wrote a grammar for his students which still exists. He was finally ordained a priest when he was thirty years old.
After a few years, Wynfrid felt that God called him to become a missionary to pagan lands. In 716, he traveled with two companions to Frisia (now Holland) briefly before returning home again. Two years later, he set off for Rome to meet with Pope Gregory II. He knew that he needed the Pope’s blessing to be effective as a missionary.
It was the Pope who gave Wynfrid a new name: Boniface. It comes from the Latin word bonifatus and means “fortunate.”
Boniface left Rome with a general commission from the Pope to preach the word of God to the German pagans in 719. He traveled at once to Hesse (Germany) where he could preach to the Teutonic tribes easily because his native Anglo-Saxon was so close to their own tongue. The local chieftains were converted, and they eventually gave Boniface a grant of land to found a monastery.
The Pope was pleased with him, and ordained him bishop in 722 with a new jurisdiction over “the races in the parts of Germany and east of the Rhine who live in error, in the shadow of death.” Boniface was also introduced to Charles Martel, the grandfather of Charlemagne — and the powerful Duke of the Frankish people. With Martel’s help and protection, Boniface now aimed to be “the apostle to the Germans” and to complete the Christian conversion of the tribes.
Boniface returned to Hesse, and made a public announcement in advance that he would challenge the old gods to a contest. On the appointed day, Boniface then cut down the sacred oak of Thor with an axe on the summit of Mount Gudenberg — as a large crowd watched half in amazement and half in horror. Many of them expected Boniface to be struck down for this act of contempt against the old gods, but nothing happened. Then Boniface stood on top of the trunk, and asked the Germans, “How stands your mighty god? My God is stronger than he.”
Thousands were converted that day to Christ from the old beliefs. To finish the job, Boniface built a chapel on the spot where the oak had been. He even used the wood from the sacred oak to build the church.
The church, dedicated to Saint Peter, still stands in Fritzlar, Germany.
Boniface spent ten years in Thuringia (now Germany) on his crusade. He restored order among the Christian priests. He established a second monastery dedicated to St. Michael. Boniface also called on many English monks and nuns to help him convert the German tribes — and many answered his call.
Boniface spent his remaining years instructing and organizing the clergy in Bavaria and Hesse and Franconia into bishoprics —with an English monk at the head of each new diocese. He then guided the sons of Charles Martel after his death, and used his influence to call a number of church assemblies to reform the Frankish Church. It was Boniface who helped to keep the Church of Gaul from falling into serious trouble — and these reforms were adopted in Britain as well.
Now past seventy, Boniface spent his last years returning to Germany to make sure that his many hard-won converts did not lapse into pagan practices. He took ship with fifty companions on the Rhine to reach the remaining pagan tribes. He camped near Dokkum (Holland), along the river Borne, and prepared a confirmation service for new converts.
It was the day before Pentecost Sunday.
Boniface was reading in his tent when an armed band of pagans attacked the camp. His fifty-two companions tried to defend him — but he urged them not to do so. Instead, he told them not to fear dying for their faith. Boniface was the first to be killed. When the new converts arrived for confirmation, they found fifty-three bodies and carried them back to the monastery at Fulda that Boniface had founded — and they rest there today.
The book that Boniface was reading — which he raised above his head to protect it when he was struck down — can be found at the monastery too.
What was St. Boniface reading?
It looks like there is nothing new under the sun. The Jews post Solomon had their high places with trees, asherah pole to honor asherah. I guess it illustrates the timelessness of the battle between good and evil.