The letters of St. Boniface

June 5th is the feast day of St. Boniface.

Though there's a lot of info on him at Wikipedia (link above), here's a short blurb about him from a page on a medieval lecture series ...

St. Boniface (d. 754), called "the greatest Englishman" in the title of a recent book, was an Anglo-Saxon monk who undertook to convert the pagan Saxons of Germany. His missionary work on the continent of Europe brought him into contact with the major political figures of his time, including the pope and the progenitors of the Carolingian dynasty. Boniface helped to shape Carolingian relations with the papacy and the Carolingian monastic ideal; he also has a claim to be considered one of the creators of Germany. No less fascinating than Boniface's missionary and political career is his correspondence, including letters he wrote to and received from female admirers and disciples. Boniface's life and literary remains offer a full, luminous insight into the culture of his time.

About those letters - you can read many of them at the St. Boniface of Crediton site. Here's an example .......

Boniface Asks Abbot Huetbert of Wearmouth to Send Him the Works of Bede
(746-7)

Huetbert was brought up at Jarrow from childhood and later pursued his studies in Rome during the time of Pope Sergius (687-701). He became Abbot of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow about 716.

To his very dear and revered brother Abbot Huetbert, and to all the brethren of his holy community, Boniface, a humble servant of the servants of God, sends greeting of brotherly love in Christ.

We earnestly beseech you, kind brother, to assist us with your holy prayers in our labours among the rude and savage people of Germany, where we are sowing the seed of the Gospel. Pray that we may not be scorched by the fiery furnace of the Babylonians, but rather that the seed strewn in the furrows may germinate and grow an abundant harvest. For, in the words of the Apostle, "neither he that planteth nor he that watereth is of any account, but only God who giveth the increase".

Meanwhile, I beg you to be so kind as to copy and send me the treatises of the monk Bede, that profound student of the Scriptures, who, as we have heard, lately shone in your midst like a light of the, Church.

If it would not give you too much trouble, pray send me also a cloak-it would be of great comfort to me in my journeys.

As a token of my deep affection for you I am sending you a coverlet, as they call them here, made of goat's hair. I beg you to accept it, trifling though it is, as a reminder of me.

May the Blessed Trinity, one God, guard you and prosper you in health and every holy virtue in this life, and glorify and reward YOU in future blessedness among the shining cohorts of the angels.

(Tangl, 76)