Saint Boniface

SAINT BONIFACE was born in 680 in Devonshire, England. From the age of thirteen he was educated in the Benedictine monastery of Exeter, where he later became a monk.
He went to Rome to obtain the Pope's blessing on his mission to Germany. It was a slow and dangerous task. He destroyed the temples of idols and built churches instead. Once he cut down a huge oak that was dedicated to the god Jupiter, and then used the tree in building a church dedicated to St. Peter. Boniface was eventually sent to Rome where the Pope made him a bishop. He returned to Germany and started a number of dioceses, while correcting abuses and building more churches.
Once Boniface was in Holland converting a tribe of people. While he was waiting to administer Confirmation to some newly baptized Christians, a troop of pagans arrived.  He said to his Christian friends, "My children, do not resist." The pagans killed Boniface and 52 Christians who were with him on June 5, 755. He is well loved in Germany where he is regarded as the Patron Saint, also admired in England.