Holy Martyr Boniface

Life

Martyrdom for Christ makes a saint out of a sinner. This is shown by the example of Saint Boniface. Boniface was at first a servant of a certain wealthy and dissolute woman Aglaida in Rome, and Boniface had impure and unlawful relations with her. Both were pagans. Once Aglaida wished to have in her house martyrs' relics as a kind of amulet to protect from evil. And Aglaida equipped her servant for Asia, that he might find and buy for her what she desired. Boniface took with him several slaves and much wealth, and upon parting with Aglaida Boniface said to her: If I cannot find any martyr, and if they bring you my body tormented for Christ, will you receive it with honor? Aglaida laughed and called him a drunkard and a sinner. Thus they parted. Coming to the city of Tarsus, Boniface saw many Christians under torment: some had their legs cut off, others their hands, others their eyes gouged out, others on gallows, etc. Boniface's heart changed, Boniface repented for his sinful life and wept. And Boniface cried out in the midst of the Christian martyrs: And I am a Christian! The judge took him for interrogation, commanded that they flog him terribly, then poured molten lead into his mouth, and—since that did not harm him—they beheaded him with a sword. The slaves took his body and carried it to Rome. God's angel appeared to Aglaida and said: Receive him who once was thy servant, and now is our brother and fellow servant; he is the guardian of thy soul and protector of thy life. Aglaida, horrified, went out to meet them, received Boniface's body, built him a church and laid the martyr's relics in it. Then she repented, distributed all her possessions to the poor, and withdrew from the world, and lived another fifteen years in bitter repentance. Saint Boniface suffered in the year 290.

From the Hymn of Praise

A sinful soul was in Boniface,A sinful soul pressed down by sin,He repented and shone with ChristAnd sighed a hundred times over.