An Early European?

Being a Nonconformist, I am not as au fait with all the different saints as some of my friends. So I learn a lot from their blogs about these worthy people- Sue had a superb saintly post last week.
But this is St Boniface [672-754AD]. Now I only knew one thing about him - that he is credited with 'inventing' the Christmas tree. He is supposed to have found some pagans in Germany worshipping an oak tree. Horrified, he grabbed an axe and chopped it down, and a fir tree grew spontaneously on the spot. He told them this pointed to heaven, and that it was evergreen. So we should look to God, whose love is eternal. They gave up their pagan Winter Solstice Rituals, and started decorating their homes with fir trees at Christmas [and then Martin Luther came along 800 years later and added the candles!] 
But it seems there is much more to Boniface than that. He was born  to a noble family, and named Wynfrith [friend of peace] but became a Benedictine Monk, and changed his name - Boniface means 'good fate'. Then he felt called by God to cross the Channel and do missionary work. He visited the Pope in Rome, and then went to work in Germany, France, the Netherlands...Historian Norman Cantor says he was 'one of the truly outstanding creators of Europe - called the "Apostle of Germania", he was the chief reformer of the Frankish church, and the one who formed an alliance between the Papacy and the Carolingians'.
He was martyred in Holland- people came to attack him as he preached - he held up his large Bible and a sword pierced it, and he was fatally wounded [hence the picture above]
But I never realised that he was an Englishman, who started his training in a monastery at Nhutscelle - now called Nursling, just 25 miles north east of Ferndown - but was born 90 miles due west of here, in Crediton, Devon. 

This year, Devon County Council have been backing a proposal to make him the Patron Saint of Devon. This idea also includes making June 5th [date of hius martyrdom] the official "Devon Day"  
This has had mixed reactions from the councillors, but one said “He [Boniface] was a great humanitarian and a great European and I know whose side he would be on in the European elections. I think the points made are valid, but for historical reasons, it is important [for Devon] to have a patron saint as Cornwall does.”

I wondered if Dorset has a patron saint. It does! Here is St Wyte [aka St Candida, St Gwen or St Blanche - all names meaning 'white'] She is buried at Whitchurch Canonoricum near Bridport. Some records say she went off to Europe with Boniface as a missionary - but other say she was martyred in 830, which doesn't fit with his dates! To be honest, very little is known about her. She is believed to have been killed by marauding Danes. St Wyte has a special flag, and this was adopted as the Dorset Flag in 2008, following a poll among Dorset residents. Her Saint's Day is June 1st.

Wessex is clearly a hotbed of hagiography. Just wait till you see tomorrow's post!