Friends at Court.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 22, 30 May 1901, Page 7

Friends at Court.

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR.

June 2, Sunday. — Trinity Sunday. „ 3, Monday. — St. Mary Magdalen of Pa«i. „ 4, Tuesday. — St. Francis of Carracciolo. „ o, Wednesday. — H t. Bon'faep, Bishop and Martyr. „ 6, Thursday. — Feast of Corpus Christi. „ 7, Friday. — St. Augustine, Bif»hop »nd Confessor. „ 8, Saturday .—St. Angela de Mericia, Virgin,

§T. BOHIFACH, BISHOP, lIAKTTB, AND APOSTLE OF GERMANY. St. Boniface, snrnamed the ' Apostle of Germany,' was born of noble parents in Wessex, at Crediton, 680. At an early age he developed a strong predilection for the monastic profession, and was educated in the monastery of Adescanceaster. His name was then Winfrid. At the age of thirty he was ordained priest, and being eminent among his brethren for learning and ability, had the prospeot of future greatness before him. Having heard of the spiritual oonquests of St. Willibrord and other missionaries, he desired to contribute, like them, to the progress and diffusion of Christianity. His longings turned particularly to the old country, the fatherland of the Anglo-Saxons. In 716 Winfrid, accompanied by three other missionaries, sailed from the port of London to the coast of Friesland. But his attempt was singularly inopportune. Ratbod, King of the Frisians, was then at war with Charles Martel. The missionaries fled ; the churches and monasteries in Friesland, which had been founded by the Franks, were demolished, and paganism reoovered the ascendancy. This state of affairs compelled Winfrid to return to England, having accomplished nothing. Two years later Winfrid was again permitted to pursue his apostolic labors. Fortified with a commendatory letter from his ordinary, he went to Rome and there obtained from Pope Gregory 11. an apostolic mission to all Northern Germany. He began his apostolic career in Thuringia in 719, which had been Christianised in part by the disciples of St. Columbanus ; but the clergy, as well as the people, were demoralised. He instructed the people and reformed the clergy. His missionary efforts, however, in this direction were interrupted by the tidings of the death of Ratbod, and the subsequent success of the Franks He repaired at once to Friealand, and offering his services to Willibrord. then Archbishop of Utrecht, labored three years under the direction of that apostolic prelate. In 722, declining to become the coadjutor and successor of Willibrord, Winfrid returned to Thuringia, and thence went to Hesse, where he made many converts. Being informed of the conquests of our Saint, Pope Gregory 11. summoned him to Rome, consecrating him regionary bishop, and sent him back with honor to his converts in 723. On that occasion also our Saint assumed the name ' Boniface,' by which he is known in history. Returning to Germany he resumed his mission among theHessiansand Thuringians. With his own hands, and in the presence of an assemblage of heathens, he felled the Sacred Oak of Thor, at Geismar, and of its wood built a chapel which he dedicated to St. Peter. As the number of conversions daily increased, zealous assistants from England joined Boniface. Pope Gregory 111. sent Boniface the pallium (732), made him vicar apostolic with full power to conseorate bishops and erect dioceses, and appointed him superior, not only of German, but also of Gallic prelates. In 738 Boniface made his third and last pilgrimage to Rome. Returning with increased powers, he proceeded to Bettle the eccleBiastical divisions of Germany. The next object of the apostolic archbishop was to insure a permanent supply of missionaries. With this view he erected several monasteries. The most famous among these was that of Fulda. Between the years of 742 and 746 Bonifaoe held several synods, at which he reformed abuses and established excellent rules for the government of the churches in Germany. In 747 Pope Zacharias appointed Boniface Archbishop of Mentz and Primate of Germany. By order of the same Pope, the Saint, in 752, crowned Pepin the Short, king of the Franks. For more than thirty years Boniface had devoted himcelf to the salvation of Germany. Having completed his great task, he resigned his archiepiscopal see to his disciple Lullus, in order to undertake the conversion of the Frisians. He had already converted several thousands of this nation, when the great Apostle of Germany terminated his holy and useful life by a glorious martyrdom. He was attacked and slain, together with his companions, by a band of pagan Frisians in 755. The remains of the illustrious martyr were deposited in the monastery of Fulda. THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHBISTI. Pope Urban IV., in his decree concerning the festival of Corpus Christi, gives the following explanation of its institution : — 4 Although w« daily, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, renew the memory of this holy sacrament, we believe that we must, besides, solemnly commemorate it every year, to put the unbelievers to shame ; and because we have been informed that God has revealed to some pious persons that this festival should be celebrated in the whole Church, we direct that on the first Thursday after the octave of Pentecost the faithful should assemble in the Church, and join with the priests in singing the word of God,' etc. Hence this festival was instituted on account of the greatness of the divine mystery ; the unbelief of those who denied the truth of this mystery, and the revelation made to some pious persons. Prayer is the power of the Christian ; without it the soul is like a boat without a rudder and without Bails, tossed by winds and stormß. With it the soul rises up to Heaven on two easy wings. Prayer is the fiery chariot in which we asoend to Heaven.