St. Boniface

Timeline of St. Boniface

c. 675

Born in Wessex

Born to a respected Anglo-Saxon family in the kingdom of Wessex — later tradition names Crediton in Devon — and baptized Wynfrith.

~15 years later

c. 690s

Schooled at Exeter and Nursling

Against his father's wishes he entered monastic life, studying first at Exeter and then at the abbey of Nursling, where he became master of the school and wrote the first Latin grammar by an Englishman.

~26 years later

716

First mission to Frisia fails

He sailed to Frisia to preach, but a war between Charles Martel and the pagan king Radbod had laid the churches waste, and he returned to England empty-handed.

3 years later

719

Commissioned by Pope Gregory II

He went to Rome, where the pope renamed him Boniface and sent him to preach the Gospel east of the Rhine, in the heart of pagan Germania.

3 years later

722

Consecrated bishop in Rome

Pope Gregory II made him a missionary bishop without a see and secured for him the protection of Charles Martel, ruler of the Franks.

~1 year later

c. 723

Fells the Oak of Thor

At Geismar in Hesse he chopped down the great oak sacred to the thunder-god before a watching crowd, and built a chapel from its wood.

~9 years later

732

Made archbishop by Gregory III

He received the pallium and was given power to found new dioceses across Germany, organizing the church he had planted.

12 years later

744

Founds the abbey of Fulda

Through his disciple Sturm he established a great monastery in the forest of Hesse, which became the heart of the German church and his chosen burial place.

10 years later

754

Martyred at Dokkum

Returning to the Frisian mission of his youth, he and his companions were cut down by an armed band on the banks of the Borne on the eve of Pentecost.