," aiding the venerable
Willibrord in the work he had so long carried on. But he felt the call
to labour in lands as yet untouched, and so he determined to go to the
Germans. As he passed up the Rhine he drew to him the boy Gregory
afterwards famous as abbat of Utrecht, and at last he settled in the
forests of Hessen and built a monastery at Amoeneburg. From his old
friends in England he received sound advice as to the treatment of
heathen customs and the gentle methods of conversion which befit the
gospel of {137} Christ. [Sidenote: His mission from Rome, 723.] From
Rome he received affectionate support; and in 722 he was summoned to
receive a new mission from the pope himself. On S. Andrew's Day,
723,[3] after a solemn profession of faith in the Holy Trinity and of
obedience to the Roman See--the first ever taken by one outside the
Roman patriarchate--he was consecrated bishop. He set out with letters
from the pope to Christians of Thuringia and to the duke Charles.
Charles Martel accepted the trust and gave to Winfrith (who had assumed
the name of Boniface) the pledge of his protection. The missionary's
first act on his return to Hessen was to destroy the ancient oak at
Geismar, the object of devotion to the worshippers of the Germanic
gods; and the act was followed by many conversions of those who saw
that heathenism could not resent the attack upon its sacred things.
Still there were difficulties. Those who had learned from the old
Celtic mission were not ready to accept the Roman customs. Gregory II.
wrote in 724, exhorting him to perseverance: "Let not threats alarm
thee, nor terrors cast thee down, but stayed in confidence on God
proclaim the word of truth." The work grew: monasteries and churches
arose: many English helpers came over: the favour of Charles Martel was
a protection. As the Benedictines opened out new lands, ploughed,
built, studied, taught, religion and education spread before him.
[Sidenote: Boniface archbishop, 732.] In 732 Boniface was made
archbishop, received a pallium from Rome, and was encouraged by the new
pope Gregory III. to organise the Church which he had founded and {138}
to spread forth his arms into the land of the Bavarians. There
Christianity had already made some way under Frankish missionaries: it
needed organisation from the hand of a master. He "exercised himself
diligently," says his biographer Willibald, "in preaching, and went
round inspecting many churches."