[Rank]
S. Bonifacii Martyris;;Simplex;;1.1;;vide C2

[Rule]
vide C2;

[Oratio]
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we who do make solemn remembrance~
of thine holy Martyr, Boniface, may be helped in thy presence by his prayers.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio93]
Boniface was a Roman citizen who had lived in sin with the noble lady Aglae. The~
memory of this transgression overwhelmed him with exceeding sorrow, so that for~
penance he gave himself up to look for and bury the bodies of the martyrs. While~
he was at Tarsus, and apart from his fellow-travellers, he saw a great many~
persons being diverse ways tormented, because they confessed to believing in~
Christ. He kissed their chains, and vehemently exhorted them bravely to bear~
their sufferings, seeing that the same their affliction which was but for a~
moment, was working for them an exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory. For~
this cause Boniface also was taken, and his flesh torn off him with iron claws.~
Sharp reeds also were driven between his finger-nails and the quick, and molten~
lead poured into his mouth. In his agony he was only heard to say "I thank~
thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God." Afterward he was dipped head foremost~
into a vessel of boiling pitch, and as he was drawn out unharmed, the judge in~
fury commanded him to be beheaded. At the time it was done there was a great~
earthquake, whereby many unbelievers were turned to believe in the Lord Christ.~
The fellow-travellers of Boniface sought him the next day, and when they knew~
that he had undergone martyrdom, they bought his body for fifty shillings, and~
after that they had embalmed it with spices, and wrapped it in linen, they~
carried it to Rome. The Lady Aglae, who had herself with great contrition given~
up her life to godly works, was told by an angel what had come to pass. She~
therefore went forth to meet the holy body, and built a Church in the name of~
Boniface, wherein his said body was buried upon the fifth day of June next after~
that fourteenth of May whereon in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia, under the~
Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, he had passed away to heaven.
&teDeum