St. Boniface was very bold in his faith, and he was well known for being very good at using the local customs and culture of the day to bring people to Christ.
St. Boniface was born as Wynfrid – also written as Wynfrith, Winfrid or Winfrith – sometime around the year 675 in Wessex (present-day Devon), England. Overcoming the initial disapproval of his Anglo-Saxon family, he was able to pursue a career in the Church. He was educated at Benedictine monasteries (first Exeter, then Nursling), and became an ordained priest at the approximate age of 30.
Instead of remaining in England, Wynfrid decided to became a missionary. In 716, he traveled to Frisia (now part of The Netherlands), following in the footsteps of other Anglo-Saxon missionaries. However, he found the local ruler unwelcoming and soon left the area.
After his return to England, Wynfrid was chosen to be the abbot of his monastery. Still wishing to evangelize, he turned down the position and proceeded to Rome in 718. There, he met with Pope Gregory II, who gave him the name Boniface.
On May 15, 719, the pope sanctioned Boniface’s desire to spread the Gospel. Boniface once again visited Frisia, where the political climate had changed. This allowed him to gain valuable experience as a missionary, which he then put to use in Hesse.
In 722, Boniface was made a bishop. He soon received the protection of Charles Martel, the Carolingian ruler of the Franks. His path made easier by this protection, Boniface returned to missionary work.
One story about St. Boniface tells about when he met a tribe in Saxony that was worshipping a Norse deity in the form of a huge oak tree. Boniface walked up to the tree, removed his shirt, took an ax, and without a word, chopped it down. Then he stood on the trunk, and asked: “How stands your mighty god? My God is stronger than he.” Conversions followed when its worshipers saw that Boniface was not immediately punished for his actions.
Boniface focused on Thuringia (part of present-day Germany) from 725 to 735. He received the pallium in 732, which made him an archbishop and gave him the ability “to consecrate bishops wherever the faithful have increased.” As his proselytizing took effect, Boniface also did his best to stem any heresies he encountered. He applied the same zeal to his next task, that of organizing the Church in Bavaria.
After their father’s death, Boniface coordinated with Carloman and Pepin, Martel’s sons, over Church reforms. This resulted in Frankish clergy growing closer to Rome. Boniface, whom Pope Zachary had named the archbishop of Mainz, also may have crowned Pepin III as king in 751. Whether or not Boniface oversaw the coronation, he had laid the groundwork for papal authority to influence religious and political development in a large swath of Europe in the coming years.
After returning to missionary work, he was martyred on June 5, 754, while on mission in Holland, where a group of pagans attacked and killed him and his 52 companions. His body was taken to the monastery at Fulda, which he had founded in 744.
St. Boniface, deemed the “apostle to the Germans,” is regarded as the patron saint of brewers and tailors, as well as of Germany.
— Biography.com, Catholic News Agency