Pope Boniface IV

Pope Saint Boniface IV
Papacy began	25 September 608
Papacy ended	8 May 615
Predecessor	Boniface III
Successor	Adeodatus I
Orders
Created Cardinal	591 by Pope Gregory I
Personal details
Birth name	Bonifacio
Born	c. 550 Valeria, Byzantine Empire
Died	25 May 615(615-05-25) (aged 65) Rome, Byzantine Empire
Sainthood
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Canonized	by Pope Boniface VIII[1]
Attributes	Papal vestments
Other popes named Boniface

Papal styles of Pope Boniface IV
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Pope Boniface IV (Latin: Bonifatius IV; c. 550 – 25 May 615) was Pope from 25 September 608 to his death in 615. He is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church with a universal feast falling annually on 25 May.^[2]

Life

Son of Johannes, "a physician, a Marsian from the province and town of Valeria; he succeeded Boniface III after a vacancy of over nine months."^[3] He was consecrated on either 25 August (Duchesne) or 15 September (Jaffé) in 608. His death is listed as either 8 May or 25 May 615 by these same two authorities.^[2]

In the time of Pope Gregory I, he was a deacon of the Roman Church and held the position of dispensator, that is, the first official in connection with the administration of the patrimonies.^[2]

Boniface obtained leave from the Byzantine Emperor Phocas to convert the Pantheon in Rome into a Christian church, and on 13 May 609 (?), the temple erected by Agrippa to Jupiter the Avenger, Venus, and Mars was consecrated by the pope to the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs. It was the first instance at Rome of the transformation of a pagan temple into a place of Christian worship. Twenty-eight cartloads of sacred bones were said to have been removed from the Catacombs and placed in a porphyry basin beneath the high altar.^[2]

During the pontificate of Boniface, Mellitus, the first Bishop of London, went to Rome "to consult the pope on important matters relative to the newly established English Church".^[4] While in Rome he assisted at a council then being held concerning certain questions on "the life and monastic peace of monks", and, on his departure, took with him to England the decree of the council together with letters from the pope to Lawrence, Archbishop of Canterbury, and to all the clergy, to King Æthelberht of Kent, and to all the English people "concerning what was to be observed by the Church of England". The decrees of the council now extant are spurious. The letter to Æthelberht^[5] is considered spurious by Hefele,^[6] questionable by Haddan and Stubbs,^[7] and genuine by Jaffé.^[8]

Between 612 and 615, the Irish missionary Saint Columban, then living at Bobbio in Italy, was persuaded by Agilulf, King of the Lombards, to address a letter on the condemnation of the "Three Chapters" to Boniface IV. He tells the pope that he is suspect of heresy for accepting the Fifth Ecumenical Council (the Second Council of Constantinople in 553), and exhorts him to summon a council and prove his orthodoxy.^[2]

Boniface had converted his own house into a monastery, where he retired and died. He was buried in the portico of St. Peter's Basilica. His remains were three times removed — in the tenth or eleventh century, at the close of the thirteenth under Boniface VIII, and to the new St. Peter's on 21 October 1603.^[2]

It was during his papacy that Muhammad first began spreading the message of Islam^[9] and Boniface's death occurred in the same year that some Muslims undertook the Migration to Abyssinia.

Boniface IV is commemorated as a saint in the Roman Martyrology on his feast day, 25 May.^[2]

See also

• List of Catholic saints
• List of popes

Notes

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Boniface IV". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton. 

References

• Bede. Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
• Gasquet, Francis Aidan. A Short History of the Catholic Church in England, 19
• Gregorovius, Ferdinand. II, 104
• Hunt, William. The English Church from Its Foundation to the Norman Conquest. Vol. 1. "A History of the English Church", W. R. W. Stephens and William Hunt, ed. London: Macmillan and Co., 1901. 42
• Jaffé, Regesta Pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum 1198. Berlin, 1851; 2d ed., Leipsic, 1881–88. I, 220
• Joseph Langen, Geschichte der Römischen Kirche, 501
• Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne), I, 317
• Mann, Horace K. Lives of the Popes I, 268–279
• Mansi, Gian Domenico. X, 501
• Paul the Deacon, History of the Longobards, IV, 36 (37)

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article Pope Boniface III.

• "Pope Boniface III" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
• Biography from CFPeople.org
• Saints.SQPN: Boniface IV
• Santiebeati: Boniface IV

Popes of the Catholic Church List of popes canonised Tombs extant non-extant Antipope Pope emeritus Papal resignation Pope-elect 1st–4th centuries During the Roman Empire (until 493) including under Constantine (312–337) Peter Linus Anacletus Clement I Evaristus Alexander I Sixtus I Telesphorus Hyginus Pius I Anicetus Soter Eleuterus Victor I Zephyrinus Callixtus I Urban I Pontian Anterus Fabian Cornelius Lucius I Stephen I Sixtus II Dionysius Felix I Eutychian Caius Marcellinus Marcellus I Eusebius Miltiades Sylvester I Mark Julius I Liberius Damasus I Siricius Anastasius I 5th–8th centuries Ostrogothic Papacy (493–537) Byzantine Papacy (537–752) Frankish Papacy (756–857) Innocent I Zosimus Boniface I Celestine I Sixtus III Leo I Hilarius Simplicius Felix III Gelasius I Anastasius II Symmachus Hormisdas John I Felix IV Boniface II John II Agapetus I Silverius Vigilius Pelagius I John III Benedict I Pelagius II Gregory I Sabinian Boniface III Boniface IV Adeodatus I Boniface V Honorius I Severinus John IV Theodore I Martin I Eugene I Vitalian Adeodatus II Donus Agatho Leo II Benedict II John V Conon Sergius I John VI John VII Sisinnius Constantine Gregory II Gregory III Zachary Stephen II Paul I Stephen III Adrian I Leo III 9th–12th centuries Papal selection before 1059 Saeculum obscurum (904–964) Crescentii era (974–1012) Tusculan Papacy (1012–1044/1048) Imperial Papacy (1048–1257) Stephen IV Paschal I Eugene II Valentine Gregory IV Sergius II Leo IV Benedict III Nicholas I Adrian II John VIII Marinus I Adrian III Stephen V Formosus Boniface VI Stephen VI Romanus Theodore II John IX Benedict IV Leo V Sergius III Anastasius III Lando John X Leo VI Stephen VII John XI Leo VII Stephen VIII Marinus II Agapetus II John XII Benedict V Leo VIII John XIII Benedict VI Benedict VII John XIV John XV Gregory V Sylvester II John XVII John XVIII Sergius IV Benedict VIII John XIX Benedict IX Sylvester III Benedict IX Gregory VI Clement II Benedict IX Damasus II Leo IX Victor II Stephen IX Nicholas II Alexander II Gregory VII Victor III Urban II Paschal II Gelasius II Callixtus II Honorius II Innocent II Celestine II Lucius II Eugene III Anastasius IV Adrian IV Alexander III Lucius III Urban III Gregory VIII Clement III Celestine III Innocent III 13th–16th centuries Viterbo (1257–1281) Orvieto (1262–1297) Perugia (1228–1304) Avignon Papacy (1309–1378) Western Schism (1378–1417) Renaissance Papacy (1417–1534) Reformation Papacy (1534–1585) Baroque Papacy (1585–1689) Honorius III Gregory IX Celestine IV Innocent IV Alexander IV Urban IV Clement IV Gregory X Innocent V Adrian V John XXI Nicholas III Martin IV Honorius IV Nicholas IV Celestine V Boniface VIII Benedict XI Clement V John XXII Benedict XII Clement VI Innocent VI Urban V Gregory XI Urban VI Boniface IX Innocent VII Gregory XII Martin V Eugene IV Nicholas V Callixtus III Pius II Paul II Sixtus IV Innocent VIII Alexander VI Pius III Julius II Leo X Adrian VI Clement VII Paul III Julius III Marcellus II Paul IV Pius IV Pius V Gregory XIII Sixtus V Urban VII Gregory XIV Innocent IX Clement VIII 17th–20th centuries Revolutionary Papacy (1775–1848) Roman Question (1870–1929) Vatican City (1929–present) World War II (1939–1945) Leo XI Paul V Gregory XV Urban VIII Innocent X Alexander VII Clement IX Clement X Innocent XI Alexander VIII Innocent XII Clement XI Innocent XIII Benedict XIII Clement XII Benedict XIV Clement XIII Clement XIV Pius VI Pius VII Leo XII Pius VIII Gregory XVI Pius IX Leo XIII Pius X Benedict XV Pius XI Pius XII John XXIII Paul VI John Paul I John Paul II 21st century Benedict XVI Francis Book Category Pope portal Catholicism portal

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