and it has even been argued that, instead of promoting, he opposed the revolution which transferred the crown from the descendants of Clovis to another dynasty." The duties of his office began to weigh heavily on him. He had still to struggle against much opposition on the part of bishops and clergy," while his labours were greatly disturbed by the frequent incursions of pagans, by whom he reported to Pope Stephen in 752 that thirty churches in his diocese had been burnt or demolished. He had, with some difficulty, obtained permission from Rome to nominate a successor to the see of Mentz when he should feel the approach of death, and, with Pipin's consent, he now raised to it his countryman and disciple Lull, who, however, had a much more limited authority than Boniface," and did not receive the pall till twenty years later. A.D. 753. It had been Boniface's intention to spend his last days in his monastery of Fulda, but he felt himself once more attracted to Frisia, the scene of his early labours. He again set forth as a missionary bishop, descended the Rhine, and, having consecrated Eoban to the see of Utrecht, laboured with his assistance among the Frisian tribes. Many thousands were baptised, and Boniface had appointed the eve of Whitsunday for the meeting of a large number of converts at a place near Dockum, June 5, 755. t. m This is Rettberg's view. A short time before the change, Boniface sent Lull to Rome on a mission so confidential that the purport of it could not safely be committed to writing. (Ep. 75.) Rettberg argues that such a mission was more likely to have been against than in favour of the actual holder of power among the Franks, who wished to add the title to the reality of sovereignty-that Boniface was desirous to withhold the pope from acting on considerations of interest (i. 186). He compares the chronicles which name Boniface as having crowned Pipin with those which omit his name, and plausibly accounts for the insertion of the statement in the former class (i. 384392). Boniface's share in the affair had before been denied by some Gallican writers. Ozanam makes no other reply to Rettberg as to the question whether Boniface promoted the change, than that, as he sees no wrong in the conduct ascribed to the archbishop, he thinks it unnecessary to clear him from it. He says that Boniface must have officiated at the coronation, because such ceremonies were new to the Franks, and must have been introduced from England. The necessity of this, however, is not evident, inasmuch as the rite was Ep. 78; Zach. Ep. 10, col. 940. P Ep. 49, col. 746; Zach. Epp. ii. 9; 11, col. 947. 9 Pagi, xii. 587. Rettb. i. 575. See Flodoard, Hist. Rem. ii. 17; Mabill. iv. 394-5. • Ep. 75. Willib. 11; Mabill. iv. 3; Rettb. i. 396; Hefele, iii, 539. Perhaps, as Pagi (xii. 621) and others say, Boniface regarded himself as bishop of Utrecht, and Eoban as his coadjutor. See Ep. 90. in order that he might bestow on them the rite of confirmation. But instead of the neophytes whom he expected, an armed band of pagans appeared and surrounded his tent. The younger members of his party were seizing weapons for defence, but he exhorted them to give up the thoughts of preserving the life of this world, and to submit to death in the hope of a better life. The pagans massacred the whole company-fifty-two in number. They carried off from the tent some chests which they supposed to be full of treasure, but which in reality contained books and relics; and it is said that, having drunk up a quantity of wine which they found, they were excited to quarrel about the division of the fancied spoil, and avenged the martyrs by almost exterminating each other." Eoban had shared the fate of Boniface, but their missionary labours were continued by Gregory, abbot of Utrecht, and before the end of the century, the conversion of the Frisians was completed by Lebuin, Liudger, and others. X The body of Boniface was conveyed up the Rhine to Mentz, and thence, in compliance with a wish which he had often expressed," was carried to the abbey of Fulda; and, although no miracles are related of him during his lifetime (unless the destruction of the oak of Geismar be reckoned as an exception), his remains, both on the way to their resting-place and after they had been deposited there, are said to have been distinguished by profuse displays of miraculous power. His name for ages drew pilgrims and wealth to Fulda, and he was revered as the Apostle of Germany-a title which he deserved, not as having been the first preacher of the Gospel in the countries where he laboured, but as the chief agent in the establishment of Christianity among the Germans, as the organiser of the German church. The church of Saxon England, from which he proceeded, was immediately, and in a more particular manner than any other, a daughter of the Roman. Teutonic by language and kindred, Latin by principles and affection, it was peculiarly fitted to act in the conversion of the German nations and to impress its converts with a Roman character. And this was especially the work of Boniface. He went forth to his labours with the pope's commission. On his consecration to the episcopate, after his first successes, he bound himself by oath to reduce. " Willib. 11; Pagi, xi. 626. Life of Gregory by Liudger, in Mabill. iv. 320, seqq. He is sometimes wrongly styled a bishop. Mabill. iii. Præf. See also Rettb. ii. 531-3; Neand, Memorials, 470-3. Rettb. ii. 537-540. * E. g. Ep. 75. The saint, however, found it necessary to repeat his wish in a vision before Lull and the people of Mentz would let the body go. Othlon, ii. 25; Eigil. Vita Sturmii, 16 (Patrol. cv.). Willib. 12; Rettb. i. 401. all whom he might influence to the obedience of St. Peter and his representatives. The increased powers and the wider jurisdiction bestowed on him by later popes were employed to the same end. He strove continually, not only to bring heathens into the church, but to check irregular missionary operations, and to subject both preachers and converts to the authority of Rome. Through his agency the alliance naturally prompted by the mutual interest of the papacy and the Frankish princes was effected. And, whether he shared or not in the final step by which the papal sanction was used to consecrate the transference of the crown from the Merovingian to the Carolingian line, his exertions had undoubtedly paved the way for it. To him belongs in no small measure the authorship of that connexion with the northern rulers which encouraged the popes to disown the sovereignty of Constantinople ; and, on the other hand, to him is to be traced the character of the German church in its submission to Rome from the time of the first council held under Carloman in 742. But these facts afford no warrant for the charges brought against Boniface by writers of the last century. One who, after having passed his seventieth year, resigned the primacy of the Frankish church to set out as a simple missionary to the barbarous Frisians, with an expectation (as it would seem) of the violent death which he met, may safely be acquitted not only of personal ambition, but of having been "a missionary of the papacy rather than of Christianity." His labours for the papacy were really performed, because, trained as he had been under the influences communicated to his native church by Theodore and Wilfrid, he believed the authority of Rome to be the true means of spreading Christianity among the heathen, and of reviving it from decay in countries where it was already established. It may have been that in his zeal for unity he made too little allowance for the peculiar tempers and positions of men, or that he was sometimes guilty of injustice towards his opponents; nor can it be pretended that his opinions were in advance of the age in which he lived, whereas ingenious conjecture may ascribe to the sectaries Adelbert and Clement all the spiritual enlightenment of modern Heidelberg or Berlin. But let it be considered how little such men, however highly they may be estimated, could have b Guizot, ii. 173; Giesel. II. i. 23; Michelet, ii. 16. c Such as Mosheim (ii. 119) and Schrockh. Rettberg (i. 310) mentions J. E. C. Schmidt's Church History as carrying the depreciation to an ex treme. d Willib. 11; Othlon, ii. 20-1. e Thus Schröckh describes him, xix. 242. effected; how powerless such teaching, the offspring of their personal discoveries or fancies, must have been for the great work of suppressing heathenism; how distracting to the heathen must have been the spectacle of rival and discordant types of Christianity; how necessary the operation of one uniform and organised system must have reasonably appeared to Boniface, whether for the extension of the gospel or for the reform of the church, for an effective opposition to the rudeness, the violence, the lawless passions with which he had on all sides to contend. That Boniface ever used force as an instrument of conversion there is no evidence whatever; his earnestness in the promotion of education proves how thoroughly he desired that understanding should accompany the profession of belief. And that the knowledge which he wished to spread by his educational institutions was to be drawn from the Scriptures, of which he was himself a diligent student,' appears from the eagerness with which he endeavoured to obtain as many copies as possible of the sacred books for the instruction of his converts. His letters and other writings give us the impression, not only of a great missionary, but of a man abounding in human feelings and affections.h Strenuous as Boniface was in the cause of the papacy, his conception of it was far short of that which afterwards prevailed. He regarded the pope as the supreme ecclesiastical judge, the chief conservator of the canons, the highest member of a graduated hierarchy, superior to metropolitans, as metropolitans were to ordinary bishops, but yet not as belonging to a different order from other bishops, or as if their episcopacy were derived from him and were a function of his. Much has been said of the strange questions on which he sometimes requests the pope's advice -as to the lawfulness of eating horseflesh, magpies, and storks; as to the time when bacon may be eaten without cooking, and the like. Such questions have been regarded as proofs of a wretched scrupulousness in themselves, and the reference of them to Rome has been branded as disgraceful servility. But-(besides that we are not in a condition to judge of the matter without a fuller knowledge of the circumstances)-it is easy to discover some grounds of justification against these charges. Thus the horse was a favourite victim of the gods among the northern nations, so that the eating of horseflesh was connected with the practice Willib. 3. Epp. 12, col. 702; 19, 38, 42, &c. h Ozanam, 210-1. i Rettb. i. 411. Greg. III. Ep. 1; Zach. Ep. 13. of heathen sacrifice. And the real explanation of such questions would seem to be, not that Boniface felt himself unable to answer them, or needed any direction from the pope, but that he was desirous to fortify himself with the aid of the highest authority in the church for his struggle against those remnants of barbaric manners which tended to keep up among his converts the remembrance of their ancient idolatry.m If Boniface's zeal for Rome was strong, his concern for religion and morality was yet stronger." He remonstrated very boldly against some regulations as to marriage which were said to have the authority of Rome, but which to him appeared immoral; he denied that any power on earth could legalise them. He remonstrated also against the Roman view which regarded "spiritual affinity". e. the connexion formed by sponsorship at baptism— as a bar to marriage." He strongly represented to Zacharias the scandal of the heathenish rejoicings and banqueting which were allowed at Rome at the beginning of the year, and the manner in which persons who had visited Rome referred to these as a warrant for their own irregularities. He protested against the simoniacal appearance of the charges exacted for palls by the pope's officials, whether with or without their master's knowledge." And, as a counterpoise to all that is said of Boniface's deference to the popes, we must in fairness observe (although his assailants have not adverted to it) the tone of high consideration in which Zacharias answers him, and the earnestness with which he endeavours to vindicate himself from the suspicion of countenancing abuses-a remarkable testimony to the estimation in which the Apostle of Germany was held. Nay, if an anonymous biographer may be believed, Boniface, towards the end of his life, protested against Stephen II. for having, during his visit to France, consecrated a bishop of Metz an act which the archbishop regarded as an invasion of the metropolitical privileges of Treves; and Pipin's mediation was required to heal the difference between the pope 8 - Agathias, i. 7 (p. 28); Grimm, 'Deutsche Mythologie,' i. 41-3; Ozanam, 189. In England, Egbert's Penitential allowed horseflesh to be eaten, "licet multæ familiæ eam emere nolint" (c. 38, ap. Wilkins, i. 123). But the papal legates at Chalcythe, in 785, denounced the eating of it as not practised by any "Orientals" (c. 19)-i. e. nations to the east of England. See hereafter the accounts of the conversion |