Almighty God, who didst call thy faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and martyr in the lands of Germany and Friesland, and by his labor and suffering didst raise up a people for thine own possession: Pour forth thy Holy Spirit upon thy Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many thy holy Name may be glorified and thy kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Or from the Anglican Breviary: “O God, who by the labours of blessed Boniface, thy Martyr and Bishop, didst vouchsafe to call many nations to the knowledge thy Name: mercifully grant that we, who as on this day do keep his feast, may by his advocacy find favour in thy sight. Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.”
The Diocese of Huron (ACC) held an ordination service on St. B’s day. The bulletin cover depicted St. B wielding an axe about to chop down the pagan oak tree. As it was hot and my mind was wandering, I wondered what the Diocesan Ecojustice and Enviroaction committee thought – did they approve of this cover? On the face of it, the cover didn’t make B look very ecofriendly. Did Boniface burn the tree after he chopped it down, thus contributing to global warming and creating a disturbingly large carbon footprint? Does the legend of the fir tree growing from the oak’s roots allow us to reclaim St. B as a tree planter and thus a “green saint”? Food for thought in these revisionist times.
MP