BONIFACE, Martyr, Saint. - A martyr of this name is unknown to the ancient testimonies of the Roman tradition, although he is commemorated in the Martyrologium Romanum on May 14. It is probably a question of the martyr of the same name from Tarsus, whose relics at the end of the 6th century or the beginning of the 7th were transferred, following the Arab invasion, from Syria to the Aventine in Rome. On this occasion, in fact, the Eastern Passio of the martyr was reworked, and B. was arbitrarily presented as the procurator of the Roman matron Aglae, with whom he lived in sin. Converted to penance, he is said to have gone to the East as a sign of expiation to seek holy bodies there, but there he himself encountered martyrdom; his body was brought by his servants to Rome, where Aglae erected a basilica to him. The oldest reliable document that reports the existence of a church on the Aventine dedicated to B., in which his body rested, is the De locis sanctis martyrum quae sunt foris civitatis Romae from the first half of the 7th century. This church, still existing, was a deaconry in the 8th century, but at the end of the 10th it was granted by Benedict VII to the metropolitan Sergius to restore monastic life there. From then on, to the name of the first titular was also added that of Alexius (v.), which subsequently had exclusive predominance in the naming of the church and the monastery.
Bibliography7 worksG. B. De Rossi, La Roma sotterranea cristiana, I, Rome 1864, pp. 143-75; Acta SS. Maii, III, ed. Paris 1865, pp. 279-83; L. Duchesne, Notes
BIBL.: G. B. De Rossi, La Roma sotterranea cristiana, I, Rome 1864, pp. 143-75; Acta SS. Maii, III, ed. Paris 1865, pp. 279-83; L. Duchesne, Notes sur la topographie de Rome au moyen-âge, in Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire, 10 (1890), pp. 225-34; id., Liber Pontificalis, II, Paris 1892, p. 93, n. 42; P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, Dove fu scritta la leggenda di s. B., in Nuovo Bull. Arch. crist., 6 (1900), pp. 205-34; Mart. Hieronymianum, p. 253; Codice topografico della città di Roma, ed. R. Valentini-G. Zucchetti, II, Rome 1942, p. 130.
Agostino Amore
BONIFACE IN FOLKLORE AND THE THEATER
St. B. inspired a Maggio, a popular performance typical of the Tuscan countryside, in which the entire plot of the legend is unfolded with a romantic taste, but not without liveliness and dramatic force. The action, in five acts, presents a great variety of episodes and a wealth of pathetic situations, so that the Maggio of St. B. is indicated by D'Ancona as "an example of the highest peak that this peasant form of drama could ever reach." On the same theme there is known a "sacred tragedy" written by Bishop Scipione Agnelli Maffei, and another by Bartolomeo Lucchini printed in 1648. Yet another, still unpublished, was also composed by Card. Rospigliosi, later Pope Clement IX.
BibliographyA. D'Ancona, Origini del teatro italiano, II, Turin 1891.
BIBL.: A. D'Ancona, Origini del teatro italiano, II, Turin 1891.
Amore, Agostino, and Paolo Toschi. “Bonifacio, martire, santo.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, col. 1858. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/bonifacio-martire-santo.
MLA
Amore, Agostino, and Paolo Toschi. “Bonifacio, martire, santo.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, col. 1858. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/bonifacio-martire-santo.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec2_bonifacio_martire_santo,
author = {Amore, Agostino and Toschi, Paolo},
title = {Bonifacio, martire, santo},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {II},
pages = {1858},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/bonifacio-martire-santo}
}
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