A letter from Boniface (742-46)

Translated letter:

To his sister, the abbess Eadburga, in the bond of spiritual love and with a holy and virginal kiss of affection, Boniface, bisbop and legate of the Roman Church, sends greeting in Christ. We beseech your loving-kindness with earnest prayer to intercede for us with the Creator of all things. That you may know the reason for this request let me tell you that, for our sins, the way of our wandering is beset by tempests of many kinds. On every hand is struggle and grief, fighting without and fear within. Worst of all, the treachery of false brethren surpasses the malice of unbelieving pagans. Pray, therefore, the merciful defender of our lives, the only refuge of the afflicted, the Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world, to keep us safe from harm with his sheltering right hand as we go among the dens of such wolves; that where there should be the lovely feet of those who bear the torch of Gospel peace, there may not be the dark and wandering footsteps of apostates, but that when our loins are girded the Father all-merciful may put blazing torches in our hands to enlighten the hearts of the Gentiles to the vision of the Gospel of the glory of Christ. And I pray also that you may be pleased to make intercession for those heathen who have been given into our charge by the Apostolic See, that the Savior of the world may see fit to rescue them from the worship of idols and join them to the sons of the only Catholic Mother Church to the praise and glory of His name whose will it is that all men shall be saved and shall come to the knowledge of the truth. Farewell.(1)

Original letter:

Aureo spiritalis amoris vinculo amplectendae et divino ac virgineo caritatis osculo stringendae sorori Eadburgiae abbatissae Bonifatius episcopus, legiatus Romanae ecclesiae, in Christo salutem. Dilectionis vestrae clementiam intimis imploramus precibus, ut pro nobis intercedere apud auctorem omnium dignemini. Ut non ignoretis causam huius precis, sciatis, quia nostris peccatis exigentibus conversatio peregrinationis nostrae variis tempestatibus inliditur. Undique labor, undique meror. “Foris pugnae, intus timores.” Super omnia gravissimum: quod vincunt insidiae falsorum fratrum malitiam infidelium paganorum. Rogate ergo pium defensorem vitae nostrae et unicum salutare laborantium refugium, “agnum Dei, qui abstulit peccata mundi,” ut nos, inter talium luporum cubilia lustrantes, dextera sua protegente inlesos custodiat; ut, ubi debuerunt esse speciosi pedes portantium lucernam pacis evangelicae, non inveniantur tenebrosa errantium apostatarum vestigia; sed magis pater piissimus, accinctis lumbis nostris, perficiat lucernas ardentes in manibus nostris et inluminet corda gentilium ad contemplandum evangelium gloriae Christi. Interea precor, ut intercedere pietas vestra pro istis paganis, qui nobis ab apostolica sede commissi sunt, dignetur: ut eos salvator mundi ab idolorum cultura eripere dignetur et adgregare unicae matris catholicae filiis ecclesiae, ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui, “qui vult omnes homines salvos fieri et ad agnitionem veritatis venire.” Vale.

Historical context:

Beset by external violence and internal treachery, Boniface asks Eadburg for her prayers to help him in his work and to save the pagans from idol worship.

Scholarly notes:

(1) Two letters of like import follow in Tangl's edition (Nos. 66, 67). They are here omitted.

Printed source:

MGH, Epistolae Merovingici et Karolini Aevi, 6, S.Bonifacii et Lulli Epistolae, ep.65; translation and annotation from Ephraim Emerton, The Letters of Saint Boniface (New York: Columbia University Press, 1940, repr.2000), pp.99-100. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Date:

742-46