Sacred Heart Exeter
The Life of Saint Boniface depicted in the images of this shrine
St Boniface was given the name Winfred by his parents. As a child he saw the Benedictine monks from the priory in Exeter going about their work and providing pastoral care for the people. He wished to become a monk and join them.
His father however thought more of earthly treasures and opposed his vocation, wanting him rather to succeed him as a merchant.
When Winfred was about 13 years old his father fell seriously ill and thought he would die. His brush with death helped him see that the greatest treasure was not earthly but eternal and he gave his blessing to Wilfred entering the monastery to become a monk.
The first biography of St Boniface tells us that with his parent's blessing he presented himself at the monastery and himself explained his wish to be a monk.
He was accepted and just to the north of this shrine, where there now stands an iron cross commemorating the site of the church of St Mary Major, Winfred was received into the Benedictine order.
St Mary Major was a later church built over the site of the priory where Wilfred became a monk.
The Benedictine rule describes how youths are to be received from their guardians into the care of the monastery.
"If a member of the nobility offers his son to God in the monastery, and the boy himself is young, the parents draw up the document mentioned above; then, at the presentation of the gifts, they wrap the document itself and die boy’s hand in the altar cloth. That is how they offer him.
As to their property, they either make a sworn promise in this document that they will never personally, never through an intermediary, nor in any way at all, nor at any time, give the boy anything or afford him the opportunity to possess anything; or else, if they are unwilling to do this and still wish to win their reward for making an offering to the monastery, they make a formal donation of the property that they want to give to the monastery, keeping the revenue for themselves, should they so desire. This ought to leave no way open for the boy to entertain any expectations that could deceive and ruin him. May God forbid this, but we have learned from experience that it can happen.
Poor people do the same, but those who have nothing at all simply write the document and, in the presence of witnesses, offer their son with the gifts."
The Rule of Saint Benedict chapter 59
Winfred progressed in the monastic life and in learning all that the monks of Exeter could teach him, To learn more he was sent to the monastery of Nursling near Southampton. About the age of 30 he was ordained a priest.
An impulse grew within him to be a missionary and even a martyr for the faith. With the blessing of the monastic authorities he went to proclaim the faith and strengthen the church among the Germanic peoples. His first attempts were a failure and he returned to England.
In the images depicted in the shrine stained glass, where there is a window depicted, it shows the future. Here through the window can be seen the pagans of the Germanic peoples dancing around the sacred oak whom Winfred longed to bring to the Catholic faith.
An angel is represented with wings of fire as a symbol of the inspiration from God to be a missionary. The angel carries the palm of martyrdom, showing the cost that Winfred will have to pay.
Before his next attempt Winfred went to Rome to ask advice of the Pope.
Pope Gregory advised the young monk and blessed him and his companions, and they returned to evangelise the Germanic peoples, taking with them the relics of the saints which the Pope his given them.
Pope Gregory gave Wilfred the name Boniface which means worker of good things.
This time the efforts of Boniface and his companions produced great results and many thousands were converted.
Boniface established churches and monasteries and strengthened the church in those lands.
He was recalled to Rome and ordained bishop.
The image of his ordination shows the book of the gospels being held over him while he is ordained, something that still happens in the ordination of catholic bishops today.
Boniface and his companions continued to be successful in their evangelisation and organisation of the church.
He was again recalled to Rome and made archbishop. With this authority he held many church councils and strengthened the Germanic Church with canon law and good organisation
Boniface continued to convert pagans to the Catholic faith. A famous episode recorded in the first biography relates how he took an axe to the pagan sacred oak.
The pagans expected that he would be struck down by the god Thor whose oak it was and waited expectantly, but after Boniface had struck only once a mighty wind blew through the forest and felled the oak by itself, causing the pagans to convert to the faith.
The martyrdom of Boniface happened as he was going to baptise and confirm catechumens. To do this he and his companions carried in chests the sacred vessels for the mass, the holy oils for the rites, and the liturgical books, as well as the relics of the saints they always caried.
Thinking they were carrying treasures of gold and silver, they were attacked and martyred by brigands. When those who had killed them opened the chests and found no gold and silver they were so enraged that they stabbed even the liturgical books which were later found with the bodies of the saints.
From the very time when the archbishop of Mainz welcomed back the body of St Boniface, miracles started to happen around his relics.
"In the place where they interred the sacred body there was an abundant succession of divine blessings. Through the prayers of the saint, those who came there possessed by different infirmities found healing of both body and mind. Some almost lifeless through illness and at their last breath were restored to health. Others whose eyes were blind received their sight. Yet others, bound fast in the snares of the devil, out of their senses and mad, regained soundness of mind and gave praise and glory to God."
From the first life of St Boniface by Willibald of Mainz AD 765
The gold and blue reliquary at the centre of the shrine holds relics of St Boniface from the body of the saint in Fulda.
Coming to pray at this shrine is praying in the presence of the body of the saint himself.