Saint Boniface

Wynfrith was born around 675 in Wessex, England, traditionally at Crediton in Devon, and became a Benedictine monk and teacher. In 719 Pope Gregory II gave him the name Boniface and sent him to preach to the Germanic peoples. Around 723, at Geismar in Hesse, he cut down a great oak sacred to the god Thor; when no harm came to him, many people asked for baptism, and he used the wood to build a chapel.

Boniface organized the Church in Germany, founding dioceses and monasteries, including Fulda in 744, and became archbishop of Mainz. Though elderly, he returned to Frisia as a missionary. On June 5, 754, near Dokkum in today's Netherlands, he and about fifty companions were killed by a band of pagans while preparing for a confirmation. He is buried at Fulda.

German bishops meet at his tomb in Fulda, and the cathedral there holds a festival in his honor. In Germany and the Netherlands many churches are dedicated to him, and Dokkum has a pilgrimage chapel near the place of his martyrdom.

A popular legend links him with the Christmas tree: a little fir growing at the foot of the fallen oak, pointing toward heaven.