Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

Posts Tagged ‘boniface’

Willibrord was born in Northumbria in England about 658, and studied in France and Ireland. In 690 he set out with 12 companions to preach to the pagans of Frisia (a region roughly coextensive with the province of Friesland in the Netherlands, including some adjacent territories and the Frisian Islands in the North Sea). In 695 he was consecrated bishop at Rome. From there, he returned to the mission field, eventually establishing his see at Utrecht (in modern day Holland). Some of those he attempted to convert would later turn against him, destroying churches and killing missionaries. For a time, Willibrord preached to the Danes, but he returned to Frisia after the death of Radbod, and, with the help of Boniface, he rebuilt what had been destroyed. He died in 739.

COLLECT
O Lord our God, you call whom you will and send them where you choose. We thank you for sending your servant Willibrord to be an evangelist among the people of the Low Countries, to turn them from the worship of idols to serve you, the living God; and we entreat you to preserve us from the temptation to exchange the perfect freedom of your service for servitude to false gods and to idols of our own devising. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.