Pope Boniface V

Pope Boniface V
Bishop of Rome
Church	Catholic Church
Papacy began	23 December 619
Papacy ended	25 October 625
Predecessor	Adeodatus I
Successor	Honorius I
Personal details
Born	Naples,Byzantine Empire
Died	(625-10-25)25 October 625
Previous post(s)	Cardinal-PriestofSan Sisto
Other popes named Boniface

Pope Boniface V(Latin:Bonifatius V;died 25 October 625) was thebishop of Romefrom 23 December 619 to his death. He did much for theChristianisation of Anglo-Saxon England,and enacted the decree by which churches became places of sanctuary.

Election

Boniface came fromNaples.His father's name was John. Nothing is known about his career before he becamepope.He waselectedto succeedAdeodatus Iafter the latter's death in November 618, but thirteen months ofsede vacanteensued before the election wasratified by the imperial governmentinConstantinople.During that time, Italy was disturbed by the rebellion of theexarch of Ravenna,Eleutherius,who proclaimed himself emperor. Eleutherius advanced towardsRome,but before he reached the city, he was slain by his own troops.Boniface had been loyal to EmperorHeraclius,and his election was ratified on 23 December 619.

Pontificate

Like Adeodatus I, Boniface V opposedGregory I's pro-monastic policy. For that reason, he prescribed thatacolytesshould not presume totranslate the relicsofmartyrsand that, in theBasilica of Saint John Lateran,they should not take the place ofdeaconsin administeringbaptism.Boniface made certain enactments relative to the rights ofsanctuary,and that he ordered the ecclesiasticalnotariesto obey the laws of the empire on the subject ofwills.Boniface completed and consecrated the cemetery ofSaint Nicomedeson theVia Nomentana.In theLiber Pontificalis,Boniface is described as "the mildest of men", whose chief distinction was his great love for the clergy.

Bedewrites of the pope's affectionate concern for the English Church. The "letters of exhortation" which he is said to have addressed to ArchbishopMellitusof Canterbury and BishopJustusof Rochester areno longer extant,but certain other letters of his have been preserved. One is written to Justus after he had succeeded Mellitus asarchbishop of Canterburyin 624, conferring thepalliumupon him and directing him to "ordain bishops as occasion should require." According to Bede, Pope Boniface also sent letters to KingEdwin of Northumbriain 625 urging him to embrace the Christian faith, and to Edwin's Christian wife,Æthelburg of Kent,exhorting her to use her best endeavours for the conversion of her husband.

Boniface V was buried inSt. Peter's Basilicaon 25 October 625.He was succeeded byHonorius I.

Notes

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope Boniface V".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.

References

• Bede.Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
• Gasquet, Francis Aidan.A Short History of the Catholic Church in England,19
• Gregorovius, Ferdinand. II, 113
• Hunt, William.The English Church from Its Foundation to the Norman Conquest.Vol. 1. "A History of the English Church", W. R. W. Stephens and William Hunt, ed. London: Macmillan and Co., 1912. 49, 56, 58
• Jaffé,Regesta Pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum 1198.Berlin, 1851; 2d ed., Leipsic, 1881–88. I, 222
• Jungmann,Dissertationes Selectae in Historiam Ecclesiasticam,II, 389.
• Langen, 506
• Liber Pontificalis(ed. Duchesne), I, 321–322
• Mansi, Gian Domenico.X, 547–554
• Mann, Horace K.Lives of the PopesI, 294–303