Editing Pope Boniface V

{{short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 619 to 625}}
{{Infobox Christian leader 
|type=Pope
|honorific-prefix= [[List of popes|Pope]]
|name=Boniface V
|title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
|church = [[Catholic Church]]
|image = 
|term_start=23 December 619
|term_end=25 October 625
|predecessor=[[Pope Adeodatus I|Adeodatus I]]
|successor=[[Pope Honorius I|Honorius I]]
|birth_date=
|birth_place=[[Naples]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Eastern Roman Empire]]
|death_date=25 October 625
|death_place=[[Rome]], [[Exarchate of Italy|Italy]], [[Eastern Roman Empire]]
|previous_post=[[Cardinal-Priest]] of [[San Sisto Vecchio|San Sisto]]<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios619.htm| title = Miranda, Salvador. "Bonafacio", ''Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church'', Florida International University}}</ref> 
|other=Boniface}}

'''Pope Boniface V''' ({{langx|la|Bonifatius V}}; died 25 October 625) was the [[bishop of Rome]] from 23 December 619 to his death. He did much for the [[Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England]],<ref>{{EB1911|wstitle=Boniface|inline=1|page=207}}</ref> and enacted the decree by which churches became places of sanctuary.

==Election==
Boniface came from [[Naples]]. His father's name was Ioannes or John. Nothing is known about his career before he became [[pope]]. He was [[papal selection before 1059|elected]] to succeed [[Adeodatus I]] after the latter's death in November 618, but thirteen months of ''[[sede vacante]]'' ensued before the election was [[Byzantine papacy|ratified by the imperial government]] in [[Constantinople]].<ref name="Attwater">{{cite book|first=Aubrey|last=Attwater|title=A Dictionary of Popes: From Peter to Pius XII|pages=67–68|year=1939}}</ref> During that time, Italy was disturbed by the rebellion of the [[exarch of Ravenna]], [[Eleutherius (exarch)|Eleutherius]], who proclaimed himself emperor. Eleutherius advanced towards [[Rome]], but before he reached the city, he was slain by his own troops.<ref name="ce">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02661a.htm Oestereich, Thomas. "Pope Boniface V." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 13 October 2017</ref> Boniface had been loyal to Emperor [[Heraclius]], and his election was ratified on 23 December 619.<ref name="Attwater"/>

==Pontificate==
Like Adeodatus I, Boniface V opposed [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory I]]'s pro-monastic policy. For that reason, he prescribed that [[acolyte]]s should not presume to [[translation of relics|translate the relics]] of [[Martyr#Christianity|martyrs]] and that, in the [[Basilica of Saint John Lateran]], they should not take the place of [[deacon]]s in administering [[baptism]].<ref name="Attwater"/> Boniface made certain enactments relative to the rights of [[sanctuary]], and that he ordered the ecclesiastical [[Notary public|notaries]] to obey the laws of the empire on the subject of [[will (law)|wills]]. Boniface completed and consecrated the cemetery of [[Saint Nicomedes]] on the [[Via Nomentana]].  In the ''Liber Pontificalis'', Boniface is described as "the mildest of men", whose chief distinction was his great love for the clergy.<ref name="ce"/>

[[Bede]] writes of the pope's affectionate concern for the English Church. The "letters of exhortation" which he is said to have addressed to Archbishop [[Mellitus]] of Canterbury and Bishop [[Justus]] of Rochester are [[Lost literary work|no longer extant]], but certain other letters of his have been preserved. One is written to Justus after he had succeeded Mellitus as [[archbishop of Canterbury]] in 624, conferring the [[pallium]] upon him and directing him to "ordain bishops as occasion should require." According to Bede, Pope Boniface also sent letters to King [[Edwin of Northumbria]] in 625 urging him to embrace the Christian faith, and to Edwin's Christian wife, [[Æthelburg of Kent]], exhorting her to use her best endeavours for the conversion of her husband.<ref name="ce"/>

Boniface V was buried in [[St. Peter's Basilica]] on 25 October 625.<ref name="ce"/> He was succeeded by [[Honorius I]].<ref>{{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Pope Honorius I|inline=1|prescript=}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
{{catholic|title=Pope Boniface V}}

==References==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[Bede]].  ''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]]''
*[[Francis Aidan Gasquet|Gasquet, Francis Aidan]]. ''A Short History of the Catholic Church in England'', 19
*Gregorovius, Ferdinand. II, 113
*Hunt, William. ''The English Church from Its Foundation to the Norman Conquest''. Vol. 1. "A History of the English Church", W. R. W. Stephens and William Hunt, ed. London: Macmillan and Co., 1912. 49, 56, 58
*Jaffé, ''Regesta Pontificum Romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum 1198''.  Berlin, 1851; 2d ed., Leipsic, 1881–88.  I, 222
*Jungmann, ''Dissertationes Selectae in Historiam Ecclesiasticam'', II, 389.
*Langen, 506
*''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'' (ed. Duchesne), I, 321–322
*[[Giovanni Domenico Mansi|Mansi, Gian Domenico]]. X, 547–554
*Mann, Horace K. ''Lives of the Popes'' I, 294–303

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{{s-bef|before=[[Adeodatus I]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=619–625}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Honorius I]]}}
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{{Popes}}
{{Catholicism}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boniface 5}}
[[Category:6th-century births]]
[[Category:625 deaths]]
[[Category:Clergy from Naples]]
[[Category:Popes of the Byzantine Papacy]]
[[Category:7th-century archbishops|Boniface 05]]
[[Category:Popes|Boniface 05]]
[[Category:Italian popes|Boniface 05]]
[[Category:7th-century popes]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]