As we celebrate the life of St Boniface, Fr Paul reads from Mark’s Gospel (12: 38-44) in which Jesus draws attention to the contribution of the poor widow to the Temple treasury.

For the first 40 years of his life, St Boniface was known as ‘Winfrith’. He was born in Devon, educated at the monastery in Exeter, and then he joined the Benedictine Abbey in Nursling near Southampton.  He was a teacher and a preacher and wanted to preach in a foreign land. In 718, Pope Gregory 2nd commissioned him to do this and he left England never to return. He went to Germany and had great success preaching the Gospel to the heathen tribes. He was made Bishop of Mainz.

At 70 years of age, he set out to evangelise Holland, but he was set upon and murdered on 5 June 754.

As we have done before, Fr Paul says, we recall the tradition of our Church and today we pray… ‘St Boniface pray for us’.