Boniface IV, Saint

▪ pope

born , Valeria, Italy

died May 8, 615, Rome; feast day May 8

      pope from 608 to 615.

      Possibly a student of Pope St. Gregory I the Great in Rome, he was a deacon of the Roman Church when elected pope. Receiving permission from Byzantine emperor Phocas, he converted the Roman Pantheon into the church of Sta. Maria Rotonda (May 13, 609). In 610 Boniface presided over the Council of Rome for the restoration of monastic discipline; it was attended by St. Mellitus (Mellitus of Canterbury, Saint), the first bishop of London, by whom Boniface sent letters and instructions to St. Lawrence, archbishop of Canterbury, and to King St. Aethelberht of Kent. Boniface displayed great interest in the English church.

      Boniface's pontificate was plagued, politically and ecclesiastically, by the Monophysites whose heretical bishops cooperated with invaders of the Byzantine Empire led by Heraclius, exarch of Africa. A schism in Istria caused by a condemnation of Nestorianism at the second Council of Constantinople (Constantinople, Council of) (553) led Abbot St. Columban to reprimand Boniface for supporting the council's decision. His pontificate was also marked by famine, plague, and other natural disasters. As pope Boniface maintained monastic discipline in his household. He was buried in St. Peter's, Rome.

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