St. Boniface
(675-754 A.D.)
was known for
his tireless activity,
his gift for organization,
and his adaptable, friendly,
yet firm character.
+ Pope Benedict XVI
+ Pope Benedict XVI
Oh, and he was fearless as an axe-wielding, oak-chopping, hammer-breaking priest who pointed to Jesus in Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century.
He saw many come to faith in Christ
as the "Apostle to the Germans."
How?
Well, he did take down Thor.
For some reason, St. Boniface has come up in conversation a bit more as of late, so I thought I would include a quick post for those who have not heard his story yet.
Coming as one of the great cloud of witnesses to Germans (ex. see also St. Hildegard of Bingen), St. Boniface traveled far and wide, organizing and encouraging those who followed Christ.
Seeking first the Kingdom of Jesus where good things run wild, he stepped into the darker corners of this earthly domain to bring the light of Christ to those who hadn’t been introduced to the Son of God yet.
In one fateful story set during the first quarter of the 700s A.D., St. Boniface was traveling with a few companions through the region of Lower Hesse. He knew of a community near Geismar who, in the middle of winter, would make a human sacrifice to the thunder-god Thor at the base of their sacred oak tree, the “Thunder Oak”.
Stepping into this terrifying terrain, St. Boniface sought to chop down the Thunder Oak to save lives from human sacrifice, and to also show that Thor had no power to strike him down by lightning.
St. Boniface and his companions reached the Thunder Oak on Christmas Eve before the human sacrifice could be offered. With a crozier (i.e. a bishop’s staff) in his hand, St. Boniface entered the crowd surrounding the base of the Thunder Oak, saying to everyone who was expecting a human sacrifice to soon occur:
“Here is the Thunder Oak,
and here the cross of Christ
shall break the hammer
of the false god, Thor.”
Ignoring the stranger and his companions, an executioner looked at the small child laid out for the sacrifice at the base of Thunder Oak and raised his hammer. But as the great stone hammer fell, St. Boniface reached out and his crozier blocked the blow, miraculously breaking the executioner's instrument of death.
The crowd was shocked.
The little one's life was saved.
And Thor's lightning did not
kill this Christian priest.
Then it is written that St. Boniface said:
“Hearken, sons of the forest!
No blood shall flow this night
save that which pity
has drawn from a mother’s breast.
For this is the birth-night of the Christ,
the son of the Almighty,
the Savior of mankind.
Fairer is He than Baldur the Beautiful,
greater than Odin the Wise,
kinder than Freya the Good.
Since He has come sacrifice is ended.
The dark, Thor,
on whom you have vainly called,
is dead.
Deep in the shades of Niffelheim
he is lost forever.
And now on this Christ-night
you shall begin to live.
This blood-tree shall
darken your land no more.
In the name of the Lord,
I will destroy it.”
As the story goes, St. Boniface then picked up an axe nearby and took a strong swing at the oak just as a great wind surged through the forest. Whether by swing, swirl, or the Spirit of God, the tree came down, and it is written that St. Boniface had a chapel built from the pieces of wood.
The “Apostle of Germany” shared the Gospel with the shocked Germanic peoples who began to understand that the God who died for them on a tree was somehow the slayer of Thor’s Thunder Oak. And, as St. Boniface was not struck down Thor, he looked at the crowd and then directed his eyes past the remains of the Thunder Oak to a small, unassuming fir tree:
“This little tree,
a young child of the forest,
shall be your holy tree tonight.
It is the wood of peace …
It is the sign of an endless life,
for its leaves are ever green.
See how it points upward to heaven.
Let this be called
the tree of the Christ-child;
gather about it,
not in the wild wood,
but in your own homes;
there it will shelter no deeds of blood,
but loving gifts and rites of kindness.”
The Germanic people were given a new vision of a tree, instead of a Thunder Oak demanding sacrifice, an image of an evergreen glimpse of the gift of Heaven, the sacrificial One who would not take their life, but instead, give His for theirs.
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Bonus Saints
Many blessings of peace and presence,
Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan
