1250th anniversary of his death of St.Bonifatius - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 2004 - 55 Euro Cent

Boniface was born between 672 and 675. He came from a noble family in the English Wessex and was christened Winfried. In various monasteries he was educated as a Benedictine monk. In the year 718 he traveled to Rome to receive from Pope Gregory II the authority to proselytize the Teutons. On May 15, 719, he received his name in Rome after the martyr Boniface of Tarsus. He proselytized among the Germanic tribes of Chatten and Thuringia (721/722) in present-day Hesse and Thuringia. He built Benedictine monasteries - for example Amöneburg, Fritzlar and Ohrdruf - to consolidate his missionary work. In 732 he was appointed archbishop and was from 738 papal envoy for all Germania. During a mission trip through Friesland, he was murdered on June 5, 754 near Dokkum (now the Netherlands) and later buried in Fulda. Every year since 1867 the catholic bishops of Germany meet at the grave of this "apostle of the Germans", which was canonised in 1874.