Saint Boniface of Lausanne

Boniface had been teaching theology in Paris with great reputation for seven years, when a dissension arose between the professors and the students, which caused much scandal and in which he found himself innocently involved. Seeing that the students were neglecting to come to his lessons, he abandoned these rebellious disciples, left the city and the kingdom, and departed for Cologne, where he was rec Cologne Archiepiscopal see and burial place of the saint. eived with the greatest honors. The diocese of Cologne did not yet possess a university, but there were schools of theology in the collegiate churches and in the religious convents. Boniface was offered a professorial chair, which he accepted with sentiments of respectful humility. He occupied it for two years, that is to say, until 1232.

The great name of Boniface had reached as far as Switzerland. He was appointed, without his participation, to the b Lausanne Episcopal see of Boniface in Switzerland. ishopric of Lausanne. There he made fruitful the talents that the Lord had entrusted to him. The precepts that his mouth announced, he confirmed by the example of his life, and thus gave them a new degree of evidence. He joined public instruction with private exhortations, and let no opportunity escape to encourage good works. Confession, prayer, study, and the reading of the Holy Scriptures were the habitual occupations of the prelate.

Nevertheless, the entire time of his episcopate was but a time of trouble and persecution, because he rose strongly against vice and would have no compromise with iniquity. Switzerland was then subject to the German Empire; and Emperor Frederick II, though a Christian in name, acted as a n enemy of Frédéric II Holy Roman Emperor. the Christian religion. Showered with benefits by the Holy See, he had only ingratitude for the Pope. The deceptions and perjuries of this emperor, his alliance with the Saracens, the persecutions he inflicted upon the bishops, his hatred for the Church, and a host of other crimes forced Gregory IX and Innocent IV to excommunicate him.

Boniface wa s also a vi Grégoire IX Pope who attested to the miracles of Bruno. ctim of a perse Innocent IV 13th-century pope who testified to the saint's miracles. cution incited by this emperor. The ancient biographers, without stating in what year or under which Pope the event took place, speak of it in these terms: "A great quarrel having arisen between the Pope and Emperor Frederick, the Holy Father assembled some bishops in council, among whom was Boniface, Bishop of Lausanne. Following the advice of the latter, as well as that of the other bishops, a sentence of excommunication was drawn up against the emperor, which the Pope confirmed and pronounced. Frederick, having learned that he was excluded from the communion of the Church, sent two hundred soldiers to Lausanne to kill Boniface. The latter, leaving the city with two horsemen, without knowing that traps were being laid for him, was attacked unexpectedly by these soldiers, tied to a horse, and taken away. However, one of the horsemen stood up to the emperor's soldiers with such great intrepidity and such confidence in God that he managed to deliver the holy pontiff from their hands. Not one of them entered the city; it seemed that God himself had struck them down."

The sorrows, persecutions, and constantly recurring scandals began to overwhelm our Saint. Seeing that instead of doing good in his diocese, he only reaped the hatred of the wicked, and discovering moreover new plots every day against the safety of his person, he went to Rome to ask the Holy Father for permission to resign from his bishopric. The Pope, who knew the great qualities of Boniface, put him off for a year before granting his request. But finally, he yielded to his repeated entreaties. After obtaining this grace, he prayed to God to know in what place it would be granted to him to end his days in peace. He traveled from Rome to Brabant and went to Brussels. He then visited, around 1242, the Abbey of La Cambre, where some of his relatives had taken the veil. The abbess and l'abbaye de la Cambre Place of retreat and burial for Boniface. the entire community received him with holy joy and with marks of the greatest respect; he fixed his residence there, and God manifested the holiness of his servant through several miracles.

The nuns, while he was offering the holy sacrifice of the Mass, often saw angels assisting him in this august act. He appeared one day to a cardinal who had fallen gravely ill in Paris, and restored him to health by making the sign of the cross on his forehead. Heaven showed him several times events that were taking place far from him.

When Saint Louis was waging a naval battl saint Louis King of France whose chaplain was Thomas Hélye. e against the Saracens for the defense of the holy city of Jerusalem and the tomb of Our Lord, Bishop Boniface heard in his prayer a voice from heaven that said to him: "Be assured that the King of France will be delivered into the hands of the idolaters, that many of his people will perish, and that others will fall into slavery." What had been predicted to him came to pass. Saint Louis undertook the war against the Saracens in 1248 and defeated them in several battles; but in 1250, his army being considerably reduced by fatigue, sickness, and lack of provisions, he lost a battle and was taken prisoner.

Likewise, when the Count of Flanders was making war on the Dutch, Saint Boniface heard in his prayer a voice from heaven that said to him: "Know that the Count of Flanders will be taken prisoner today and that his troops will suffer a great defeat." The prediction was fulfilled, says his ancient biographer. John of Leiden, in his chronicle of the Low Countrie Jean de Leyde Chronicler cited as a source for the saint's prophecies. s, speaks of it thus: "Before the Flemings gave battle, Bishop Boniface prayed for the success of their arms; he heard a voice from heaven that said to him: The proud must be humbled. Know that the son of the Countess of Flanders will be taken prisoner today, and that the Flemings will suffer a great defeat."

One thing deeply troubled the blessed Boniface, and that was the thought of his faults; he wondered incessantly if God had forgiven them. Heaven had pity on his torments, and in a vision showed him that all his sins were erased. He had long desired to see the Blessed Virgin: this good mother acceded to his desires and appeared to him. The blessed Boniface, throwing himself at her feet, besought her to sanctify him. Mary answered him with a smile: "I have sanctified you and I will always sanctify you," and she disappeared. Another time, in the octave of Saint John the Baptist, he ardently desired to receive some consolation from the Blessed Virgin; she appeared to him a second time, magnificently dressed, surrounded by a procession of virgins like herself, brilliantly attired. Saint John the Baptist, covered in radiant garments, accompanied her, and Saint Boniface spent a night conversing with this holy company. Who can tell the joys that such an interview brought him? One Christmas night, when he could not, because of his weakness, attend the office, he was very affected by it and complained lovingly to Mary, who appeared to him holding in her arms her child wrapped in swaddling clothes; she placed him on the sick man's bed and he was able to contemplate him at his ease. He had other visions still, upon which we do not wish to dwell. We are eager to speak of his miracles, which were numerous and striking.

However, the moment had come when God wished to reward his servant for his labors: he fell into a serious illness that was to lead him to the grave, he lost the use of his hands; despite this, he wished to continue offering the holy sacrifice of the Mass; the angels helped him and served him in this formidable function. As he approached the end of his life, he asked for the Gospel of Saint John, he kissed it and, placing his hands on this sacred book: "Here," he said, "is the book according to the maxims of which I have lived, I believe everything it contains and desire to die in this belief." God did not delay in granting his desires; he died full of merits and good works. He had governed the church of Lausanne for ten years and had spent eighteen in the monastery of La Cambre, serving God day and night in holiness and justice. He expired on the 19th of the Kalends of February 1265, and was buried at La Cambre where his relics remained deposited until the great French Revolution.

His great devotion to the Blessed Virgin has sometimes caused him to be represented kneeling before an image of Our Lady; dying, he holds a book in his hands: this is an allusion to the profession of faith he pronounced over the Gospel according to Saint John.

## RELICS OF SAINT BONIFACE.

At the time of the Revolution, the relics of Saint Boniface were transported to the parish church of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, in Brussels, where they are still largely found. A few years ago, a new and magnificent reliquary received these precious bones, and the translation was performed by the Cardinal-Archbishop of Mechelen in person. The considerable growth of the suburb of Ixelles, where the church of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle is located, necessitated the creation of a new parish there about twenty years ago, and it was placed under the patronage of Saint Boniface who, through his retirement at La Cambre, became an inhabitant of Ixelles and remained for eighteen years on the territory of this populous and rich municipality. A pretty church in Gothic style was built there, where one particularly admires the pulpit; the panels of the basin reproduce various episodes of the Saint's life, treated with great talent.

We have borrowed from the Acta Sanctorum what we have said ab out Saint Bonif Actes Sanctorum Monumental hagiographic collection by the Bollandists. ace. The final details were sent to us from Brussels.