Lecture 27: Evangelization of Western Europe
was carried out in trackless forests with hostile tribes; in places still
deeply committed to pagan forms of worship; and without the aid of
roads, vehicles, communication, or even supply lines. The strategy
of founding monasteries as centers of influence and the cultivation
of rulers was the only one possible in such circumstances.• Saint Willibrord (c. 658–739) is called the “Apostle of the Frisians.”
Anglo-Saxon, he was educated at Ripon Abbey in England under
Saint Wilfrid; he joined an Irish monastery for 12 years and was
ordained a priest. In 690, he went to work among the Frisians (a
Germanic group in the Netherlands), where he founded a number
of monasteries.
o In 693, Pope Sergius I provided papal support for his mission,
and in 695, Willibrord was made archbishop of the Frisians.o The Merovingian King Pepin gave him land for a cathedral
outside Utrecht, and in 698, he founded the monastery of
Echternach in Luxemburg.o He received steady support from the Merovingians and, in 719,
received help as well from a fellow missionary, Saint Boniface.
His life was written by Alcuin, whom we met before as a
scholar in the court of Charlemagne.• Saint Boniface (born Winfrid; c. 680–754) is called the “Apostle of
the Germans.” Born in England, he was educated at a Benedictine
monastery at Winchester and became a key figure in the reform of
the Frankish church, as well as its alliance with the papacy.
o A learned man, Boniface wrote poetry, a grammar, and a treatise
on metrics. Some 150 of his letters are extant. In 715, he went
to Fulda, where he worked with Willibrord unsuccessfully
among the Frisians.o He then went to Rome, and in 719, Gregory II commissioned
him to preach to the heathen among the Germans, bestowing
on him the name “Boniface” (bonum facere = “do good”). He
worked among the Hessians and Thuringians, founding many