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 BONIFACK

672

BONI

at the Third Catholic Congress of Germany, held at Ratisbon in 1849. The object of the association is to maintain what the Catholic Church possesses in those regions where Catholics are few in number, to found and support missions and schools, and to erect churches, parish-houses, and schools for Catholics in the Protestant parts of Germany. The territories which the association takes under its especial care are: the Diocese of Kulni; the Delegature of Brandenburg and Pomerania, belonging to the Prince-Bishopric of Breslau; the Vicariate Apostolic of Saxony; the Dio- ceses of Paderborn, Hildesheim, Osnabrijck, and Fulda; the Northern Missions, etc. The association is managed by a general committee at Paderborn; the diocesan committees have entire control of the con- tributions they receive; after consultation with their respective diocesan councils, and under the approval of the general committee, the diocesan committees designate the objects to which the money shall be given. Since the association was founded about $9,250,000 has been collected and some 2,600 churches have been erected or aided.

Besides the diocesan committees another impor- tant branch is formed by the Boniface collecting societies. The first of these was founded in 18S5 among the merchants of Paderborn by the Marian congregation; the aim of this branch of the associa- tion is, by the founding of orphan asylums and insti- tutions where children are prepared for their first communion, to care for the religious training of Catho- lic children in non-Catholic communities. The funds are obtained by the collection and sale of objects of little value in tliemselves, such as, tin-foil, old postage stamps, clothing, leaden seals, old coins, books, cigar bands, cigar tips, and such trifles. More than $625,- 000 has been raised by this branch association since its foundation; it aids more than 120 institutions for first communicants and orphan asylums, besides con- tributing considerable sums to children in non- Catholic communities for railway tickets, school and living expenses.

Another branch is the Academic Boniface Asso- ciation which has existed for forty years at the German universities, the first one of these societies being founded at Miinster in 1867. In ISSS the various university branches met at Freiburg and united into a common organization; in 1907 they included thirty-six branches with a membership of 750. Their organ is the "Akademische Bonifatius- Korrespondenz ". Since 1860 the general association has had a printing office and since 1888 a bookstore for old and new publications, both at Paderborn. The popes have granted indulgences and privileges to priests connected with the association. The asso- ciation issues the" Bonifatiusblatt", founded in 1850; the " Schlesisches Bonifatiusblatt", 1860; and the "St. Bonifatiusblatt" at Prague, founded in 1904.

Kleffner and Woker, Festschrift (Paderborn, 1899); Arndt, Die dem Bonifatiusverein vow, heiligen Stuhl verliehenen Gnaden (Paderborn. 1902); Der Bonifatius-Sammelverein (Paderborn, 1907); Financial statements of the managing committee, annual reports of the combined Boniface collecting societies, etc.

Joseph Lins.

Boniface of Savoy, forty-sixth Archbishop of Canterbury and son of Thomas, Count of Savoy, date of birth uncertain; d. in Savoy, 14 July, 1270. While yet a child he became a Carthusian. In 1234, as sub-deacon, he was elected Bishop of Belley in Bur- gundy: and, in 1241, administered the Diocese of Valence. His connexion with the royal house of England secured his promotion to the primacy. The Queen of Henry III was Eleanor, daughter of Beren- gar. Count of Provence, and Beatrice of Savoy. This Beatrice was the sister of the future archbishop. When St. Edmund died, in 1241, the Queen's uncle was elected. But Gregory IX and Celestine IV dying unexpectedly, it was not until the end of 1243

that the new Pope, Innocent IV, was aible to confirm his election. In the following year Boniface went to England for the first time. He found his see in debt. The heavy taxation during the sequestration in St. Edmund's primacy had severely burdened its already slender resources. Therefore his first act was to make every economy, abolishing all sinecures and unnecessary offices connected with the archbishopric. He ordered the tenants and clergy to contribute towards the liquidation of the debt.

In 1244 he set out for the Council of Lyons, where he was consecrated (15 Januarj', 1245) by the pope. His brother Philip, afterwards Count of Savoy, although not consecrated, held the archbishopric of Lyons and was in command of the papal troops. During the sitting of the council Boniface held a com- mission under him. He obtained from the pope the grant of the first-fruits of all vacant benefices in the Province of Canterbury during seven years, and his claim to levy a contribufion from the whole province to meet the debt of the metropolitan see was allowed. In 1249 he returned to England and was enthroned with great pomp at Canterbury on All Saints' Day. The archbishop then began a personal visitation of his diocese, correcting abuses and levying fines. But, on extending his visitation to the dioceses of his suf- fragans, resistance was offered to him. In London the Dean and Canons of St. Paul's protested that the Bishop of London was their visitor and appealed. They were promptly excommunicated. On the fol- lowing day the archbishop visited the Priory of St. Bartholomew. He was met by the sub-prior and brethren, who welcomed him as a prelate but not as a. visitor. Like the clergy of St. Paul's they repre- sented that they had their own bishop and would not submit to other jurisdiction without permission from him. The archbishop was so incensed that he felled the venerable sub-prior to the earth. This was more than the Londoners could stand from a foreigner, even were he their archbishop. They fell upon him, his vestments were torn in the struggle, and the coat of mail worn beneath them disclosed. He was res- cued by his bodyguard and escaped by barge to Lam- beth, where he proceeded to excommunicate the clergy of St. Bartholomew's and the Bishop of London.

He then announced his intention of holding a, visitation at St. Albans. The suffragans met and resolved to resist him. The clergy of the province levied a tax upon themselves in order to proceed against him at Rome. Learning of these things he promptly set out for the Roman court. The result was a compromise, the pope confirming the right of visitation, but restricting its use. Godwin says of him that Boniface did three worthy things: he paid off a debt of 22.000 marks; he built and endowed the hospital at Maidstone; and he finished the great hall of the archbishop's palace.

Pope Gregory XVI, at the suit of Charles Albert of Savoy, King of Sardinia (1831-49), approved the cult of Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, as ab immemorabili.

Strickland, Ricerche storiche sopra it 5. Bonifacio di Savoia in Miscell. slor. Ital. (1895), I, 349-432; Godwin, De Praesulibus AngtitE; Guicheron, Histoire g^n^alogique de la royale maison de Savoie: Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury; Luard, Annates; Rymer, Fwdera; Matthew Paris, Letters of Grosser teste; Letters of Adam de Marisco,

Francis Aveling. Bonifacius de Vitalinis. See Vitalini, Bonifa-

F.\CI(I DK.

Boni Homines (or Bonshommes). — This name was popularly given to at least three religious orders in the Church:

I. — The Order op Grandmont. founded by St. Stephen of Muret (b. 1046, d. 1124) for an austere order of eremitical friars professing the rule of St. Augustine (though they have sometimes been claimed