Saint Boniface of Tarsus

Finally, after many long years, the Roman lady, touched by the grace of God, summoned her steward and said to him: "Boniface, my brother, you know how many crimes we have plunged ourselves into, without ever reflecting that we must present ourselves before God and render an account of all the evil we have done in this world. But today, I have heard from Christians that if someone assists the Saints who fight and die for the glory of Christ, they will have a share in their reward on the terrible day of the Lord's just judgments. At the same time, I have learned that servants of Christ are fighting in the East against the demon and are delivering their bodies to torments, so as not to deny their master. Go, therefore, and let us bring back relics of the holy Martyrs, so that by honoring them and building oratories worthy of their struggles, we may be saved by their intercession, both we and a great number of others."

The servant immediately took with him a large quantity of gold to buy relics of holy Martyrs, to distribute to the poor at the same time, and also to honor the holy martyrs: he chose twelve horses, three litters, and perfumes of every kind. On the point of leaving, he said pleasantly to Aglae: "Mistress, if I find relics of holy Martyrs, I will bring them; but if my own relics reach you, receive them as those of a Martyr." Aglae replied to him: "Leave aside your drunkenness and your extravagances; go and do not forget that you have to bring the relics of the holy Martyrs; and I, a wretched sinner, await you soon. May the Lord, the God of the universe, who deigned to take for us the form of a slave and shed his blood for the salvation of the human race, send his angel before you, that he may direct your steps in his merciful kindness and that he may fulfill my desire, without regard for my crimes."

Boniface therefore departed, and on the road, he said to himself: "It is right that I do not even taste meat and that I do not drink wine, since, despite my unworthiness and my crimes, I must carry the relics of the holy Martyrs." Then, lifting his eyes to heaven, he prayed thus: "Lord God Almighty, Father of your only Son, come to the aid of your servant; direct the path by which I must walk, so that your holy name may be glorified for ever and ever. Amen." This prayer finished, he continued his journey.

After a few days of travel, Boniface arrived in the city of Tarsus: he learned that at that very moment the holy athletes of Christ were fighting the glorious battles of martyrdom, and he said to the servants who had followed him: "My brothers, go find an inn, and let the beasts rest there. As for me, I am going to visit those whom my heart loves and desires above all to meet."

He therefore went to the stadium where the holy Martyrs were fighting; he saw them in their tortures. One was hanging head down over a great fire; another had his four limbs tied to stakes that held them violently apart; this one was being crushed by executioners who were suffocating him; a sharp iron was being passed over that one, tearing him; another had had his hands cut off; yet another had his throat pierced by a stake that was driven into the ground; and finally, one last one, with his feet and hands tied behind his back, was being struck with sticks by the executioners. All the spectators, at the sight of these torments, were frozen with terror. What am I saying! Hell was defeated, for the servants of Christ were fighting generously.

Boniface, having approached the holy Martyrs, gave them all a kiss; they were twenty in number; then, raising his voice: "Great," he cried, "is the God of the Christians; great is the God of the holy Martyrs! I beseech you, servants of Christ, pray for me, so that I may have the happiness of becoming the companion of your glory, by fighting with you against the demon." Then, sitting at the feet of the holy Martyrs, he embraced their chains and kissed them, saying: "Courage, O you, the athletes of Christ and his Martyrs; fight, trample the demon underfoot; a little more patience, the pain will not be long, and the rest is endless. The tortures are a small thing, when the reward is eternal. Here below your body is torn by the executioners, but in the world to come it will be served by the angels."

However, the governor, casting his eyes over the crowd, caught sight of Boniface and said immediately: 'Who is this man who dares to speak thus, and to hold in contempt both the gods and me?' He had him brought before his tribunal and, addressing him, said: 'Tell me who you are, to insult the sanctity of my judgments.' Boniface replied: 'I am a Christian, Christ is my master, and I despise you and your tribunal.' The governor said: 'What is your name?' Boniface replied: 'I have already said it: I am a Christian; but if you wish to know the name the common people give me, I am called Boniface.' The governor said: 'Before the torture tears your sides, approach and sacrifice.' Boniface replied: 'I have already repeated it to you several times: I am a Christian, and I do not sacrifice to demons. If you wish to punish me, strike; my body is in your hands.'

At this speech, the governor, inflamed with anger, had him suspended, head downwards, and had iron claws run over his entire body; it was done with such violence that all the flesh was torn away and the bones laid bare. But the Blessed one did not let a word escape; his gaze was fixed motionless upon the holy Martyrs. The governor, finally, had him taken down and set back on his feet: and after having allowed him an hour of respite, he said to him again: 'Sacrifice, wretch, and have pity on your soul.' The Blessed one replied: 'And you yourself, three times wretched, do you not blush to repeat to me without ceasing: Sacrifice! Do you not see that the very name of your vain idols is a torment to me that I cannot tolerate?' The governor, furious, ordered reeds to be sharpened and driven under the nails of his hands; but the Saint looked to heaven and suffered in silence. The governor, indignant to see him insensible to these torments, commanded that his mouth be opened and that molten lead be poured into it. Then the blessed athlete of Christ, lifting his eyes to heaven, made this prayer: 'I give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God; come to the aid of your servant and lighten my sufferings; do not permit that I be overcome by this sacrilegious governor; you know that it is for your name that I endure these torments.' And when he had finished his prayer, he cried out to the holy Martyrs: 'I beseech you, servants of Christ, pray for your servant.'

The Saints all answered him with one voice: 'Our Lord Jesus Christ will send his angel; he will deliver you from the hands of this sacrilegious judge and shortly he will finish your course, to inscribe your name in the rank of the first-born.' After they had thus prayed and said Amen, a long groan was heard in the crowd; all repeated while weeping: 'Great is the God of the Christians! Great is the God of the holy Martyrs! Christ, Son of God, save us; we all believe in you; it is in you that we seek our refuge: anathema to the idols of the Gentiles.' At the same time, the entire people ran to the altar, overturned it, and wanted to stone the governor. The latter rose, frightened by the tumult, and fled before the storm that threatened him.

But the following day, early in the morning, he was sitting again on his tribunal, and had the Saint brought before him: "Wretch," he said to him, "whence comes this madness of yours to place your hope in a man, and a man crucified as a criminal?" The Martyr answered him: "Be silent, and do not open your impious lips to name Our Lord Jesus Christ. Cruel serpent, you wrap your soul in a dark veil, you have grown old in evil days: anathema to you! If Jesus Christ, my master, supported all the torments, it is because he wanted to save the human race." The governor, irritated, ordered that a cauldron be filled with pitch, and, when it was boiling, that the Saint be thrown into it, head first. The holy Martyr of Christ was indeed thrown into it; but he had previously made the sign of the cross. An angel of the Lord descended from heaven and touched the cauldron. It melted immediately like wax, at the first impression of the fire. The Saint suffered no harm, but several of the executioners were burned.

The governor, terrified by the power of Christ, and astonished by the patience of the holy Martyr, condemned him to have his head severed by the sword. The sentence was conceived in these terms: "He has not obeyed the laws of the emperors; by virtue of our power, we want him to undergo the capital penalty." Immediately the guards hastened to drag him from the praetorium.

The holy Martyr, having again made the sign of the cross, begged the executioners to give him a few moments to pray. Then, standing facing the East: "Lord God almighty," he said, "Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, come to the aid of your servant; send your angel, and receive my soul in peace, so that the cruel and murderous serpent, in his rage, may not prevent me from coming to you; that I may not be the plaything of his seductions. Grant me rest in the choir of the holy Martyrs, and deliver, Lord, your people from the tribulations with which the impious overwhelm them; for to you belong glory and power, with your only Son and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen."

When he had finished this prayer, the executioner severed his head; at that moment, the earth was shaken by such a violent tremor that everyone cried out: "Great is the God of the Christians!" And many believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, Boniface's companions were searching for him everywhere; and not having found him, they began to say to one another: "He is now in some place of debauchery or in a tavern, leading a merry life, while we are tormenting ourselves looking for him." Now, while they were reasoning thus, they happened to meet the jailer's brother, and said to him: "Have you not seen a stranger coming from Rome?" He said to them: "Yesterday, a stranger was martyred; his head was cut off." "And where is he?" the others replied. He answered: "In the stadium; that is where he suffered. But what did he look like?" They said: "He was a man of strong stature, with broad shoulders, and a full head of hair; he wore a scarlet cloak." The jailer's brother replied: "The man you are looking for suffered martyrdom before our eyes." They answered: "No, the man we are looking for is given to wine and debauchery, and he does nothing that could merit martyrdom." The other said: "What do you have to fear? Come to the stadium; you will recognize him."

They followed him to the stadium, where he showed them the mortal remains of Boniface, lying lifeless. And they said to him: "We beseech you, show us his head." He left them immediately and brought back the Martyr's head. This head fixed its gaze upon his former companions, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, a smile was painted upon its features. At this sight, his companions recognized him, they wept bitterly, and said: "Do not remember our sin and the evil we spoke against you, servant of Christ"; then to the officer: "It is indeed the one we were looking for; we pray you to give him to us." The officer answered them: "I cannot give you this corpse for free." Boniface's companions paid the officer five hundred pieces of silver and received, on this condition, the body of the Martyr. They embalmed him with rich perfumes, and wrapped him in costly shrouds; then they placed him on a litter, and resumed their journey with joy, blessing God for the happy end of the holy Martyr.

Meanwhile, an angel of the Lord had appeared to Aglae, and had said to her: "He who was your slave is now our brother; receive him as your master, and give him a resting place worthy of his glory. Through him, all your sins will be forgiven you." Immediately Aglae had risen: she had taken with her pious clerics, and, all together, singing prayers and carrying candles and perfumes, they had come to meet the holy relics. They were deposited fifty stadia from Rome, in a place where Aglae had an oratory built worthy of the struggles and the glorious triumph of the Martyr. Subsequently, the relics of Saint Boniface were transported to the Aventine Hill, in the church that bears the name of Saint Alexis. The two Saints are placed under the same altar, the hero of angelic virginity beside the her o of penance mont Aventin Hill in Rome where the house of Euphemianus was located. , having become an angel again throu gh the bapti Saint-Alexis Saint cited as a model of renunciation for Robert. sm of blood, *angelicatus homo*.

However, Aglae renounced the world; she distributed all her wealth to the poor, to monasteries, and to hospitals, and freed all her slaves; then, with some of her handmaidens who, like her, wished to renounce the world, she dedicated herself to the service of Christ. Heaven honored her sacrifice; she received from the Lord the power to cast out demons and to heal, through her prayers, every kind of infirmity. She lived thus in the exercises of the Christian life for thirteen years, at the end of which she fell asleep in peace.

Such are the acts of the combats that earned the crown of victory for the illustrious martyr Boniface, for the glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Greek Menologion depicts the beheading of Saint Boniface. The attribute of Saint Aglae could be a necklace of pearls that she tramples underfoot.

Acta Sanctorum, May 14.