Holy Martyr Boniface
290
He lived in Rome during the reign of Diocletian. He was slave to Aglais, the daughter of a Senator, and served as steward of her household and her large fortune. He also lived in fornication with her, and was addicted to drink. Despite these sins, he was kind, hospitable to strangers, and generous toward the needy.
In time, Aglais became troubled in her conscience over her way of life, and began to think of the account that she would have to give to God for her sins. Some Christians told her of the holy Martyrs and, moved by their accounts, she ordered Boniface to travel to Tarsus and bring back relics of these holy ones. Boniface, still deaf and blind to the things of God, said jokingly, “And will you honor me as a Saint if I bring back my own body to you as a relic?”
Boniface traveled to Tarsus with a large escort, well supplied with gold. He went straightaway to the Amphitheater, where he beheld a number of Martyrs being subjected to awful torments for the pleasure of the crowd, but bearing them all with patience and serenity. At the sight, the dissolute steward was touched by grace and felt his heart melt within him. He ran to the Martyrs, fell at their feet and kissed their chains, and loudly declared that he too was a disciple of Christ. So he too was put in chains, subjected to frightful tortures, and finally beheaded, rejoicing and praising God.
Boniface’s escort, mystified by his long absence, made inquiries and were astonished to discover that their godless and sinful companion had met a Martyr’s death the day before. They paid fifty pounds in gold for his body and brought it back to Rome, thus fulfilling Boniface’s own unwitting prophecy.
An angel of the Lord appeared to Aglais and said, “Arise and go to meet him who was once your servant and companion in sin, but has now become our brother. Receive him as your master for, thanks to him, all your sins are to be forgiven.” Rejoicing, Aglais received her former lover’s holy relics and built a church in his honor, where many miracles were wrought. Aglais gave away her fortune, devoted herself to ascesis and prayer, and was herself granted the grace to work miracles. She reposed in peace thirteen years later, assured that the sins of her past had been effaced through the intercessions of the holy Boniface.
Holy martyr Boniface of Tarsus
Saint Boniface was a slave in the household of Aglaida, a noble Roman woman with whom he lived in sin. Despite this, he was charitable, hospitable to strangers and merciful to the poor. Aglaida, repenting of her life, desired to obtain the relics of the holy martyrs to bless her household, and she sent Boniface with much money and rich linens to Tarsus in Cilicia, where Christians were being tortured. Arriving there, he was so moved by the courage of the martyrs that he openly confessed himself a Christian. Boldly rebuking the proconsul Simplicius, he was tortured cruelly: molten lead was poured into his mouth and he was cast into a cauldron of boiling pitch, but he remained unharmed. He was at last beheaded around the year 290, his blood mingling with milk as a sign of his purified soul. His companions, who had come with him from Rome, ransomed his body and brought it back to Aglaida, who built a church in his honour.
Holy martyrs Elias, Probus and Ares
The holy martyrs Elias, Probus and Ares were Egyptian Christians who suffered for Christ in Cilicia during the persecution of the emperor Maximinus around the year 308. Having visited Christian confessors who had been condemned to labour in the mines of Cilicia, they were arrested on their return as they sought to encourage the faithful. Brought before the governor at Ascalon, they boldly confessed Christ and refused to sacrifice to the idols. Elias and Probus were beheaded after long tortures, and Ares was burned alive. Their relics were taken up secretly by the faithful and were honoured for the working of miracles.
Righteous Aglaida of Rome
Saint Aglaida was a Roman noblewoman, daughter of an eminent proconsul, who in her youth lived in great wealth but in dissolute fashion, keeping her household servant Boniface as a companion. Awakening to the emptiness of her life, she conceived a desire for repentance and sent Boniface to Tarsus to obtain the relics of holy martyrs that they might pray for her. When he himself was crowned with martyrdom and his body was returned to her, she received it with great reverence, built a church to enshrine the holy relics, and from that day forsook her former manner of life. She gave away her wealth to the poor, freed her slaves, and lived for the rest of her days in fasting, prayer and almsgiving. She was granted the gift of casting out unclean spirits and reposed in peace fifteen years after her servant's martyrdom.
Saint Gregentius, archbishop of the Homerites
Saint Gregentius was born in the country of the Avars and from his youth shone with the radiance of grace, having been granted visions of angels and saints. After ascetic struggles in Italy and at Rome, where he was warned by an angel of his future ministry, he sailed to Alexandria. The patriarch, instructed by a heavenly vision, ordained him archbishop and sent him to the land of the Homerites in southern Arabia at the request of the Ethiopian king Elesbaan, who had defeated the Jewish king Dhu Nuwas in vengeance for the martyrs of Negran. Arriving in Taphar, Saint Gregentius set the church in order, preached to pagans and Jews, baptised many, and drew up a body of just laws known as the Nomoi for the new Christian kingdom. He held a famous public debate with a learned Jew named Herban, and at its conclusion the appearance of Christ in the heavens caused Herban and his fellow Jews to receive baptism. He reposed in peace around the middle of the sixth century.