(A.D. 1265.)
[Molanus, in his additions to Usuardus. Not extensively known.
Authority:--A Life by an anonymous monk of the Cistercian Order,
date uncertain, but probably very little posterior to the death of
S. Boniface.]
Boniface, son of a goldsmith at Cantersteen, was trained in the
Cistercian monastery of Cambre, near Brussels; he afterwards studied,
and in 1258, became lecturer on theology in the university of Paris.
But after a while his pupils fell off, and he went to Cologne, where
he taught with success for two years. He was then appointed bishop of
Lausanne, where he laboured to enforce celibacy on the clergy, and
some, enraged, armed themselves, and entered the church where he was
celebrating mass, with intent to kill him. But a Franciscan friar,
seeing his peril, ran through the streets of Lausanne calling for
help; and the people crowding into the cathedral, rescued him.
Boniface, despairing of his power to accomplish the work, with the
consent of the Holy Father, resigned his charge, and returned to
Cambre, where he died in 1265. He was buried in the choir. A small
chapel has been recently erected at Cambre, by a Recollet father,
Francis Vancutzen, in his honour. His festival is solemnized in
Brabant in virtue of a bull of Pope Clement XI., in the year 1702. On
June 25th, 1600, his relics were exhumed, and placed in a wooden
coffer, by Robert Van Ostebaere, abbot of Cambron, and Hautmont,
acting under authority for the archbishop of Mechlin. This reliquary
was translated to the Church of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, at
Brussels, in 1796, whence a portion was transported on May 9th, 1852,
to the Church of Ixelles, of which S. Boniface is patron.