Boniface (circa 672 to 5 June 754) was born in Crediton in Devon.  His baptismal name was Winfred.  As a very young man he came to live in a Benedictine monastery in Examchester (Exeter).  He received further theological training at the minster of Nursling, near Winchester, and was ordained a priest at about age 30.  

In 718 he came to Frisia (the coastal region on the north of modern-day Netherlands) to join the Northumbrian Willibrord preaching in the countryside.  Their mission was interrupted by war between Frisia and the Franks. Willibrord withdrew to Echternach (modern-day Luxembourg) and Winfred to Nursling.  The following year Winfred went to Rome where Pope Gregory II re-named him Boniface after a 4^th Century martyr and ordained him as missionary Bishop to Germania.  He enjoyed remarkable success, and in 732 Pope Gregory III made him Archbishop of all of Germany east of the Rhine.  Charles Martel (Charlemagne’s grandfather) established dioceses in Salzburg, Regensburg, Freissing and Passau, giving them to Boniface. In 745 Mainz became his Archiepiscopal see, and he established further dioceses in Würzburg and Erfurt.  A disciple of his established an abbey at Fulda and he appointed bishops from among its monks.

In 754 he undertook a fresh mission to Frisia.  He and his companions were set upon and killed by Frisian bandits.  Boniface was acclaimed as a saint immediately.  He was buried first at Utrecht, then removed to Mainz; later his remains were moved to Fulda.

It may be doubted that the Second Epistle of St Peter is anyone’s “favourite” or most-consulted book of the Bible. From antiquity its authorship has been disputed, and though it claims to have been written shortly before Peter’s martyrdom (which probably occurred, under the Emperor Nero, in Rome in late 64) [II Peter 1.14], the situation of the epistle (St Paul’s epistles are referred to as “scripture,” a designation they didn’t enjoy until the 2^nd Century) [II Peter 3.16] suggests that it was written rather later and attributed to Peter to give it greater authority.  Oddly, much of the text seems directly cribbed from the short epistle of Jude.

Nevertheless, the final words of this epistle, which we read today, are apt for Christians who live in times of uncertainty and waiting.  ‘What we await is a place where righteousness will be at home.’  In effect this ‘place’ is at once one which is given by God and one which we create by our own style of life—a lifestyle ‘without spot or stain’ and of mutual peace.  Undeterred by extremists and diversions, Christians are called on to ‘go on growing in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’.

Between 1885 and 1887, several groups of Christians, both Catholics and Anglicans, numbering about 45 martyrs in all, were put to death at the orders of the kabaka (ruler) of Buganda (today part of the modern nation of Uganda).  The White Fathers mission had brought Catholic Christianity to the area in 1879.  At first their work was tolerated by local rulers, but Mwanga II, who came to the throne in 1884 at the age of 18, began a persecution directed primarily against African converts.

A large group of young men who were pages at the royal court had become Catholics.  Their catechist, St Joseph Mkasa, was beheaded on 15 November 1885.  On 3 June 1886, 22 pages (whose master, St Charles Lwanga, had baptised many of them himself), all of them under the age of 25, were wrapped in reed mats and burnt alive at Namugongo, near Kampala.

The Christian pages had reproached Mwanga for debauchery, and that may have aroused his fury.  Certainly the wider context of this episode was the ‘scramble for Africa’—the colonisation of Africa by European powers.  Today Christian faith and practice flourishes in independent Uganda.

Of such high importance, that we celebrate this feast of the visitation every evening (by reciting Mary's words in evening prayer), today is rightly a feast day. This year falling on a Friday, we can forget about fasting and abstinence, as the feast is compulsory!

The Magnificat can be seen as a poem with three messages:

A song of Praise - and about the best we have! This outstanding poem has become the lyric to many of our best loved hymns and sacred musical moments.

Acknowledgement of God's Plan - Mary quotes from a variety of scripture that all point to this moment, when God's plan to send his Son to save us all, is fullfilled

The Fiat - no not the small Italian car, Fiat means 'Yes'. Without Mary's yes to God, his plan could not continue. Humanity needs to accept God's plan - God made himself vulnerable to us. Can you imagine that? Our God is powerless with our Fiat? Mary could very easily have said 'no' and none of us would blame her, because when we think about it - would we accept public humiliation, rejection by her Fiancé, and a life of isolation and poverty by accepting the child out of wedlock? How tough was Mary's decision to say her 'Fiat' ?

If you only have time to pray briefly today: Pray the Magnificat.

There are only two occasions in Mark's Gospel where Jesus says "your faith has healed you".

The blind Beggar Bartimaeus, and earlier, the woman with the heamorage, both demonstrate what faith is. Faith is a verb - Jesus is not responding to their belief in Him but to their putting into action their belief. The Woman, despite the insurmountable prejudices of the time against her, reaches out to Jesus and touches his garments. Bartimaeus shouts, shouts shouts for Jesus, despite many urging him to be quiet!

We need to take care that when we observe or experience someone acting against the apparent norms of society - check to see if they are exhibiting their faith by putting their belief in God in the only way the they know how to act?

Marks' account of the good news is a dynamic take, full of movement and drama, and of all the gospels is possibly the easiest to read in an evening. Indeed, it is a good thing to do, once in a while, to take the entire message in one go and then reflect upon it.

However, in each Mass we can obviously only hear one small fragment of the good news - but you can spot the general frame of Mark in todays. The apostles and Jesus are travelling - and not just anywhere, they are now going up to Jerusalem. The time has come for the Lord to be glorified - but the apostles are not quite in tune with what that means! Jesus tells them he will be mocked, scourged and Mal-treated, not made into the messianic king as they perhaps are expecting! And yet, immediately, they start contesting amongst themselves to be sat as His princes in the heavenly kingdom!

Is the message for us that we need to be focused on what we must be doing here, today in God's world, and less on what we hope to be in the future, enfolded in the glory of God in heaven? Soon, Jesus re-inforces this message by washing our dirty, grimy feet - and implores us to do the same for each other.

Many who are first will be last, and the last first

Don't be too comfortable! We might be forgiven for thinking that although 'many' who are first will face a reversal in fortunes not all will, and we might be one of the lucky ones! In the meaning of the time when this was written, it is more of a statement that many are first, and they ALL will face reversal. We can not escape that!

Except - we can. If we have skills, means and / or influence, then we can put those at the service of the Lord, and thus place ourselves below others in the human pecking order of life. If we live in the UK we are all more or less ahead of 2/3 of the worlds population in material means - likely, much further than that. We have to do much to reverse that!

When Pope Gregory began to plan for the evangelization of England, the land was still largely pagan, although in the southwest there were remnants of earlier missionary efforts. To lead this important mission, Gregory chose Augustine, prior of St. Andrew's monastery in Rome, of which Gregory had been the founder. Nothing is known of Augustine's life until the year 596, when, with a party of Benedictine monks, he set out northwards from Rome. He carried letters of commendation to various Gallic bishops. On reaching Provence, the monks accompanying Augustine grew fearful of the dangers that lay ahead. Alarming stories were told of the ferocity of the pagans and the hazards of the Channel crossing. They persuaded Augustine to return to Rome to ask the Pope's permission to abandon the whole enterprise. Meanwhile the Pope had received word that the common people of England and also some of their chieftains and kings were ready to welcome Christian missionaries. After Pope Gregory had told Augustine this news and had discussed the situation with him further, Augustine rejoined his companions and inspired them with his own courage. Taking with them several Franks to act as interpreters, the party crossed safely over to the Isle of Thanet, in the domain of Ethelbert, King of Kent, whom they formally notified of their arrival and of their purpose in coming.

Ethelbert was still a pagan, but his wife Bertha, daughter of King Charibert of the Franks, had been converted to Christianity. Sitting under a spreading oak, Ethelbert received the missionaries. After listening carefully to their words, he gave them permission to preach to his subjects. He also made over to them a house in Canterbury, with the use of the little stone church of St. Martin, which had stood there since the period of Roman occupation. This had formerly been the oratory of Queen Bertha and her confessor Liud hard. Ethelbert was converted and baptized at Pentecost, 597. After this promising start, Augustine went back to Provence to be consecrated bishop by Vergilius, metropolitan of Arles and papal legate for Gaul. On his return some ten thousand of Ethelbert's subjects were baptized in the Swale River.

Augustine, greatly heartened by the success of his mission, now sent two of his monks to Rome to report to the Pope, and to ask for more helpers. Also he wished to have the Pope's counsel on various problems. When the monks came back to England with a fresh band of missionaries, they brought the pallium for Augustine. Among the new group were Mellitus, Justus, and Paulinus, who was afterwards archbishop of York. With these "ministers of the Word," wrote the Venerable Bede, "the holy Pope sent all things needed in general for divine worship and the service of the Church, viz. sacred vessels, altar cloths, ornaments for churches, and vestments for priests and clerks, and also many books." The latter item was especially important, for the books helped to inspire the great love of learning which characterized the English Church.

Gregory sent to Augustine a plan for developing an ecclesiastical hierarchy and establishing a working organization for the whole country-a plan which was not fully carried out in Augustine's lifetime. There was to be a northern and a southern province, with twelve suffragan bishops in each. In a letter to Mellitus, which is presented earlier, following the life of <St. Gregory>, he gave instruction on other points, showing his administrative ability as well as considerable psychological insight. Pagan temples were, as far as possible, to be Christianized and retained. Consecration rites and feasts of martyrs were to replace the heathen festivals, for, Gregory wisely writes, "he who would climb to a lofty height must go by steps, not leaps."

In 603 Augustine rebuilt and reconsecrated the Canterbury church and the house given him by King Ethelbert. These structures formed the nucleus for his metropolitan cathedral. They were destroyed by fire in 1067, and the present cathedral, begun by the great Lanfranc in 1070, stands on their site. A converted temple outside the walls of Canterbury was made into another religious house, which Augustine dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. After his death this abbey became known as St. Augustine's.

With the King's support, the Christianization of Kent proceeded rapidly, but Gregory's charge had stated, "All the bishops of Britain we commend to your Fraternity." The survivors of the ancient British or Celtic Church and their bishops had been driven westward and southward into Wales and Cornwall by the Saxon conquerors of the fifth century. Here they had persisted as Christian communities, cut off from the outside world. Although they were sound in fundamental doctrine, some of their usages were at variance with those of Rome. Now, in virtue of his archiepiscopal jurisdiction, Augustine invited the Celtic bishops to meet with him at a spot outside the confines of Wessex, which has since come to be known as Augustine's Oak. In long conferences with the representatives of the Celtic Church Augustine urged them to comply with the customs of the rest of Western Christendom, in particular in the method of determining the date of Easter, and to aid him in converting the pagans. Loyalty to their own local traditions, however, and bitterness against their Saxon conquerors, made them unwilling to agree, even though Augustine performed a miracle of healing in their presence to prove the supernatural source of his authority. They consented to attend a second conference, held in Flintshire, but it too proved a failure. Augustine did not rise to greet his Celtic brothers when they arrived and they felt that he lacked Christian humility. They refused either to listen to him or acknowledge him as their archbishop. It was not until 664, at the Synod of Whitby, that their differences were resolved and ecclesiastical uniformity was established.

Augustine's last years were spent in spreading and consolidating the faith in Ethelbert's realm, which comprised large sections of eastern England south of Northumbria. Sees were established in London and Rochester, with Mellitus appointed bishop over one and Justus over the other. Seven years after his arrival Augustine died, leaving the continuation of his work to others.

St Bede (ca672-735) is known as the Father of English History for his monumental Ecclesiastical History of the English Peoples, completed about 731.  He is the only native of Great Britain to have been declared a Doctor (‘teacher’) of the Church.  Many consider him the most important European scholar of the two centuries between the death of St Gregory the Great (604) and the coronation of Charlemagne in 800. 

Born near present-day Jarrow, probably of a well-to-do family, he spent most of his life as a Benedictine monk in the double monastery of St Peter and St Paul in Northumbria.  At the age of about 14 he survived the devastating plague of 686; he was said to be one of two surviving monks in his monastery who were capable of singing the whole of the office.  He was ordained a deacon at the age of 19. About 702 (age 30) he was ordained a priest.

In addition to his astonishing historiography, he wrote scientific and theological works, the range of his interests running from music and metrics to scriptural exegesis.  He died on the Feast of the Ascension; in 1020 his relics were translated to Durham Cathedral, where they remain today.  His accomplishments remind us of the importance of the monasteries in the history of these islands, and encourage us to ask his intercession for monastics and scholars.