Today we commemorate Boniface of Mainz, Missionary to the Germans. Born in England, educated as a monk, and ordained a presbyter, Boniface decided to become a missionary. Granted a papal commission in AD 719, Boniface set to work planting, organizing, and reforming churches in Hesse, Thuringia, and Bavaria. In AD 743, now as an archbishop, Boniface was assigned to the See of Mainz. A little over a decade later, in AD 754, Boniface was martyred by a group of pagans while working in (what would become) the Netherlands. Boniface is remembered for his faith and his tireless work in spreading the Word to Germanic Europe.