BONIFACIO, 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 14 May. He is probably the martyr of the same name from Tarsus, whose relics, at the end of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century, were transferred, following the Arab invasion, from Syria to the Aventine in Rome. On this occasion, in fact, the Eastern Passion of the martyr was revised, and B. was arbitrarily presented as the steward of the Roman matron Aglae, with whom he was living in sin. Having converted to penance, he is said to have gone to the East in expiation, to seek holy bodies there; but he himself encountered martyrdom. His body was brought by his servants to Rome, where Aglae erected a basilica to him. The oldest reliable document attesting 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 seventh century. This church, still in existence, was a deaconry in the eighth century; but at the end of the tenth it was granted by Benedict VII to the metropolitan Sergio, in order to restore monastic life there. From then on, MASSIMO (v.) was also added to that of the first titular saint; subsequently, it gained exclusive precedence in the designation of the church and monastery.
Agostino Amore
B. IN FOLKLORE AND THE THEATRE. — S. B. inspired a Maggio, a popular performance typical of the Tuscan countryside, in which the entire plot of the legend is developed with romantic flair, but not without vivacity and dramatic force. The action, in five acts, presents a great variety of episodes and a wealth of pathetic situations, so much so that D’Ancona described the Maggio of s. B. as « an example of the highest pinnacle to which this rustic form of drama could ever attain ». On the same theme there is 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 Yet another, still unpublished, was also composed by Cardinal Rospigliosi, later Pope Clement IX.