Company of St Boniface
The Company of St Boniface was introduced by the Bishop of Exeter to honour people who have made a substantial contribution to the life of their church, local community or Church of England school. St Boniface is Devon’s patron saint and his feast day is 5 June.
Each year we invite you to nominate people of all ages who you think have gone above and beyond to serve the people of Devon with joy.
It could be someone involved in children and families outreach, social action, online services and social media, pastoral support, environmental work, editing the parish magazine, teaching, leading worship, youthwork, volunteering in the churchyard – anything you think is making a difference where they are.
Click here to read the biographies from the St Boniface 2024 award winners.
The nominations for the next St Boniface awards service will open Easter 2025.
Some former recipients sharing their stories
St Boniface, Devon’s Patron Saint
St Boniface was born in Crediton in Devon in around 675AD and is credited with bringing Christianity to Germany. For this, some historians call him the “First European” and he is still revered in Germany to this day.
He was given the Anglo-Saxon name Wynfrith, meaning “friend of peace” as a child, taking the name Boniface, meaning “good deeds” when he entered the monastery in Exeter.
The gifted scholar and poet was ordained as a priest and became a missionary to Frisia in northern Europe before being consecrated as a bishop in 722AD.
Ten years later, he was made Archbishop of Mainz and appointed various missionary bishops to encourage the evangelisation of central Europe.
The St Boniface medal, which is given to award winners
Boniface was killed by a mob in Frisia in 754AD and his remains returned to Fulda, where he had built an abbey. He later became the patron saint of Germania and is known as the ‘Apostle of the Germans’.
Saint Boniface’s feast day is celebrated on 5 June and a statue stands in the grounds of Mainz Cathedral. The UK National Shrine to St Boniface is at the Catholic church in Crediton. There is also an aisle dedicated to him at Crediton Parish Church.
In 2019 St Boniface was designated Patron Saint of Devon by Devon County Council.
‘As God gives us strength, in season and out of season, let us preach to the powerful and powerless alike, to rich and poor alike, to all people of every rank and of whatever age, the saving purposes of God’
Boniface of Crediton
