Who is St. Boniface? The Apostle of Germany was an evangelizer

By Mary Ann Wyand

Who is St. Boniface and when is his feast day?

Members of St. Boniface Parish in Fulda can answer those questions, of course, but many archdiocesan Catholics haven’t even heard of the English missionary named Winfrid or Wynfrith who was responsible for the evangelization of the Germanic peoples living in much of northern Europe.

Known as “the Apostle of Germany,” St. Boniface was born in 680 in England, appointed Archbishop of Mainz in about 747 and martyred during an attack by pagans on Pentecost in 754. His feast day is celebrated on June 5.

Caroline Mullis, the secretary of St. Boniface Parish for nearly 10 years, said that for many years the 160-household faith community celebrated their patron saint’s feast day with a Father and Son Breakfast sponsored by the St. Boniface Men’s Sodality.

Now, Mullis said, members of the Tell City Deanery parish—which was established in 1847 by Father Joseph Kundek, a Croatian missionary—celebrate their faith and friendship during the annual picnic, which is Aug. 6 this year. More than 25 handmade quilts are a popular fundraiser at the picnic.

“Everybody works together to prepare for the picnic,” she said. “It’s a major event for the parish. We get a lot of parishioner participation, which is wonderful.”

A large painting of St. Boniface graces the church sanctuary behind the altar, Mullis said, and both prayer cards and medals honoring the patron saint of Germany are sold at the Abbey Press Gift Shop in nearby St. Meinrad.

A number of books about Catholic saints explain that St. Boniface ended the practice of paganism among the Germanic peoples by cutting down the Sacred Oak of Thor at Geismar, Germany, which led to the founding of churches and establishment of monasteries by Benedictine monks.

Every German Catholic, most notably Pope Benedict XVI, traces his or her faith to St. Boniface’s missionary work in the eighth century.

Seven tri-parish youth group members from St. Boniface Parish, St. Meinrad Parish in St. Meinrad and St. Martin of Tours Parish in Siberia are carrying on the saint’s example of missionary work this summer by volunteering to help people in need during a mission trip to Grand Rapids, Mich., on July 16-21.

Faith Schaefer, the tri-parish youth ministry coordinator for five years, said “it’s a big trip for us because we’ve never done anything like that.”

Schaefer said the teenagers will help with a variety of Church and community service projects that week.

“It’s going to be a challenge for them to get out of their comfort zone,” she said. “However, I think it’s going to be a tremendous learning experience for them.”

St. Joan of Arc parishioner William Selm of Indianapolis, who promotes German Catholic history in the archdiocese and helped found the Indiana German Heritage Society in 1984, wants more people to learn about the life of St. Boniface.

Selm grew up in St. Michael Parish

in Brookville, which was settled by Germans, and St. Mary Parish in Rushville, founded by Irish Catholics and staffed by the German Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis from nearby Oldenburg.

“As a child, I wanted to find out more about St. Boniface, who Christianized my ancestors,” Selm said. “Now I help promote German Catholic awareness in the archdiocese.”

Selm teaches an architectural history class at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and enjoys collecting religious art related to his German heritage. He is proud to have a religious souvenir from Fulda, Germany.

Recently, Selm was pleased to receive a handmade icon of St. Boniface as a combined birthday and Father’s Day

present from his son, Nicholas, who painted it as a surprise for him.

This month, the icon has been

displayed—with information about St. Boniface and German Catholic heritage—in the window of Krieg Bros. Catholic Supply House at 119 S. Meridian St. in Indianapolis.

“Benedict XVI took the name of Benedict to honor the historical role that the Benedictines have played in [evangelizing] Europe,” Selm said. “Boniface was a Benedictine monk, and he brought the Rule of St. Benedict and organization to the Christian Church in German-speaking Europe.

“We have all those [faith] connections in Europe,” he said, “and locally we have Saint Meinrad Archabbey, founded by German-Swiss Benedictines, as well as a German bishop, Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein, and a German vicar general, Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel.”

Selm said he has shopped at Krieg Bros. for years and always asks owner Anne Krieg to order St. Boniface items for the store. When he asked her for permission to display the icon of the German saint a few weeks ago, she gave him space in a corner of the store window.

“She has St. Boniface medals and is looking for a supplier for holy cards and statues,” Selm said. “I’ll buy a bulk of holy cards and pass them out to all my Kraut friends.”

Selm said many people don’t know that there is a statue of St. Boniface on the north gable transept of St. Mary Church in Indianapolis.

On May 19, Nicholas Selm graduated from St. Louis University in St. Louis, where he studied studio art,

history and German. He plans to teach art and history.

“I wanted to paint this icon as a gift for my father,” he said. “My dad taught us about our German heritage as a part of growing up, and we would talk about St. Boniface. The lives of the saints are fun to learn about. … If we dedicate our lives to our faith, we have the potential to become saints.”

The Krieg family is German and established the Catholic bookstore and supply house in downtown Indianapolis in 1892, Anne Krieg said, but she doesn’t think there has ever been a window display featuring the patron saint of Germany until now.

“It’s hard to find holy cards of St. Boniface, but you can find thousands of holy cards of St. Patrick,” she said. “We don’t even have a statue of St. Boniface, and he was a great saint.” †