Pope Saint Boniface IV

Boniface was born in the region of the Marsi in central Italy, the son of a physician named John. He served as a deacon of the Roman Church under Pope Gregory the Great and was elected pope in 608, at a time when Rome suffered from famine, plague and floods. Like Gregory, he had great esteem for monks and turned his own family home into a monastery.

Boniface obtained from the Byzantine emperor Phocas permission to convert the Pantheon, the great temple of all the gods, into a Christian church. Around 609 he consecrated it to the Virgin Mary and all the martyrs as Santa Maria ad Martyres, and tradition says many relics of martyrs were brought there from the catacombs. He also corresponded with the Irish missionary Saint Columban and held a synod on monastic life. He died on May 8, 615, and was buried in Saint Peter's Basilica.

The dedication of the Pantheon to all the martyrs is often linked to the origins of the feast of All Saints. Visitors to the Pantheon in Rome, still a functioning church, can remember Boniface as the pope who saved the building for Christian worship.