ST BONIFACE, MARTYR - 14 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY

Saints celebrated on the 14th of May

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST BONIFACE OF TARSUS

➡️ More information about St Boniface of Tarsus

Initially, young Saint Boniface of Tarsus was not a Christian. One of her slaves, he lived in sin with the wealthy Roman lady Aglae. She finally commissioned him to find the relics of Christian martyrs in Tarsus and to bring them back to Rome. 

HE WITNESSED THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS

When he witnessed the torture and killings in the persecution of Christians under Emperor Galerius in Tarsus, he himself was touched and converted. He asked for  baptism and henceforth confessed openly to Christianity, whereupon he was martyred in 307 by being thrown into a kettle containing  boiling tar. 

AGLAE BUILT A CHURCH

Aglae, hearing of his martyrdom, became a Christian. In his memory she constructed a church, which today is the Church of St Bonifacio e Alessio. She gave her slaves freedom, distributed her wealth to the poor, and lived in a monastery until her death some twenty years later. 

St Boniface of Tarsus is a patron invoked against alcohol problems and is one of the Ice Saints.