Today is the feast day of St. Boniface, a bishop and martyr who sought to bring Christ’s light to the German peoples in the eighth century. Pope Benedict XVI gave his impression of St. Boniface: “His ardent zeal for the Gospel never fails to impress me. At the age of 41 he left a beautiful and fruitful monastic life, the life of a monk and teacher, in order to proclaim the Gospel to the simple, to barbarians; once again at the age of 80, he went to a region in which he foresaw his martyrdom.” Benedict XVI continued: “By comparing his ardent faith, this zeal for the Gospel with our own often lukewarm and bureaucratized faith, we see what we must do and how to renew our faith, in order to give the precious pearl of the Gospel as a gift to our time” (General Audience, March 11, 2009). Additionally, we know that St. Boniface enacted many reforms within what was left of the Church of Gaul, with the result that the Church there (in western Europe) “was seen to flourish again and to shine with new splendor” (Pope Pius XII, Ecclesiae Fastos).
Besides being the patron saint of Germany, St. Boniface is also the patron saint of brewers. It could be surmised, then, that he would have known about the ability to procure beer through multiple generations of the same strain of yeast. If desired, during the brewing process the living yeast may be separated from the “trub” or the excess proteins, fats, and inactive yeast lying at the bottom of the brewing vat in order that the live yeast can continue to be used for additional batches of brew. This too provides an apt metaphor for the mission of St. Boniface: by reforming the corrupted Church in many of the German provinces, St. Boniface brought forth the living Church from that which had appeared to be dead. The renewed Church was then free to expand and plant new seeds that in turn sustained multiple generations.
It is perhaps in this way that Thuringia, a central location in Germany which was one of the many provinces St. Boniface evangelized in, continued to preserve and regenerate the faith even up until my German ancestors moved from that province in the nineteenth century and came to America. Even if quite indirectly, therefore, it is possible that the work of St. Boniface played a part in the Catholic beliefs my family held over a thousand years later. The Church brings with it and through its members an interconnectedness that has the ability to feed countless generations after it, just as Jesus’ distribution of the loaves and fish fed the five thousand. Like St. Boniface, reflecting on our place in the Church we can ask ourselves, “In what ways am I renewing my faith?” and “What actions am I taking today to foster a better Church for tomorrow?”
Matt is a summer intern for RENEW's Publications and Resources team and will begin a master's degree program at Providence College in the fall.