Boniface, baptized Winfrid or Wynfrith, was born in Crediton, Devon, in approximately 680AD. At the age of five decided that he wanted to become a monk after listening to visitors from a monastery. After his decision to become a monk, at age seven, he began his education at the monastery school near Exeter. Several years later at the age of fourteen Winfrid graduated to the abbey at Benedictine Nursling (Hants) in Winchester. This is where he became a monk and in time he became director of the school and a beloved teacher. Then at the age of thirty Winfrid he was ordained, and later found his calling as a missionary. After a failed missionary attempt in 716, he set out again, in 718, to Pope Saint Gregory II in Rome, who commissioned Winfrid to preach to the pagans in Germany and also changed Winfrid's name to Boniface, which he is currently known as.
In 722, Boniface was recalled to Rome, where he was consecrated bishop for Germany. He then was given a special letter to deliver to Charles Martel. The deliverance of this letter back to Germany won for him the valuable compromise of a sealed pledge of protection from Martel.
One Boniface's second trip to Hesse he decided to once again fight again pagan rituals and superstitions. He announced in advance that a particular time he would put an eng to their pagan gods. Later at Geismar a crowd watched as he successfully cut down the sacred Oak of Thor, an object of pagan worship. After the tree was cut down Boniface claimed a tiny fir tree growing in its roots as the new Christian symbol. So the fir tree became a sign of Christ amongst the German peoples, and eventually it became a world-wide symbol of Christmas. Due to his success in Hesse, Boniface moved on to Thuringia. Once in there, Boniface established a monastery at Ohrdruf (near Gotha) to serve as a missionary center for Thuringia. He asked several English monks and nuns to join him as missionaries to Germany.
