Boniface I of Rome

Boniface I of Rome was bishop of Rome from the end of 418 until his death on 4 September 422. His election was troubled by a dispute, but he is remembered for his care for the order of the Church and for the support he gave Blessed Augustine.

The disputed election

He was a Roman, the son of the priest Jocundus, who had been widowed before becoming bishop, and he had served in Rome as a priest, long close to Pope Innocent I. When Pope Zosimus died, part of the clergy chose Eulalius and a larger part chose Boniface. Both were consecrated on the same day, 29 December 418. The prefect of Rome favoured Eulalius, disorder broke out, and the emperor Honorius called both parties to judgment. When Eulalius entered Rome against the emperor's order he lost the emperor's support, and on 3 April 419 Honorius recognised Boniface.

Ministry

Boniface strengthened the discipline of the Church. He ordered the hymn "Glory to God in the highest" to be sung on Maundy Thursday. In Gaul he reduced the powers of the bishop of Arles and restored the rights of the metropolitans of Narbonne and Vienne. In the struggle against Pelagianism he supported Blessed Augustine, to whom he forwarded two Pelagian letters that slandered him, and Augustine dedicated to him a reply in four books. He also persuaded the emperor Theodosius II that Illyricum should stay under the jurisdiction of the see of Rome.

He reposed in the Lord on 4 September 422 and was buried in the cemetery of Maximus on the Via Salaria. He is a saint of the undivided Church, commemorated on 4 September, also in English-⁠language Orthodox calendars that include Western saints.