Saint Boniface Ier
Pape
(42 ième) de 418 à 422 (✝ 422)
Il fut chargé de
plusieurs missions en Orient avant son élection, en particulier pour soutenir saint Jean Chrysostome qui avait été exilé. Il rencontrera
d'ailleurs l'hostilité de la cour impériale de Constantinople. Son élection fut
également contrée par l'empereur Honorius qui lui oppose un antipape mais,
devant l'attitude de ce dernier, préfère finalement saint Boniface et le
rétablit sur le siège de Pierre. Saint Boniface cherchera à rester en relation
avec saint Augustin pour mieux réfuter l'hérésie pélagienne. Il
intervient également dans la vie des Églises de Thessalonique, Arles et
Narbonne. On lui attribue plusieurs décisions liturgiques. Saint Boniface est
surtout remarquable par sa prudence à ne blesser personne et par son humilité
dans ses relations avec les autres évêques.
À Rome au cimetière de Maxime, sur la voie Salarienne, en 422, la mise au tombeau de saint Boniface Ier, pape, qui apaisa beaucoup de controverses sur la discipline de l’Église.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1791/Saint-Boniface-Ier.html
Saint Boniface
Ier
Pape (42e) de 418 à 422
Romain de naissance. A la mort de Zosime, pendant
qu'un groupe de diacres et prêtres élisaient l'anti-pape Eulalius, la grande
majorité choisissait Boniface. Tous deux furent sacrés séparément.
L'empereur Honorius (395-423) dut intervenir. Un
premier synode convoqué à Ravenne laissa la situation en l'état. Honorius
convoqua alors un concile plus représentatif comprenant des évêques de Gaule et
d'Afrique.
En attendant, Boniface et Eulalius devaient quitter
Rome. Boniface obéit ; mais Eulalius occupa la basilique du Latran par la force
décidé à y présider les festivités pascales. Le préfet de la ville, le païen
Symmaque l'expulsa sans ménagement de la cité. Honorius publiait alors un édit
confirmant l'élection de Boniface. Le concile projeté fut abandonné.
©Evangelizo.org 2001-2015
SOURCE : http://levangileauquotidien.org/main.php?language=FR&module=saintfeast&localdate=20140904&id=6389&fd=0
Saint Boniface 1er
Pape
Aujourd’hui, à Rome, on célèbre
l’entrée au ciel du saint pape Boniface I° qui mourut le 4 septembre 422. Le
« Liber pontificalis » dit que Boniface, fils du prêtre
Iocundus, et prêtre lui-même, avait fait partie de la délégation envoyée par le
pape Innocent I° (401-417) à Constantinople, près de l’empereur Arcadius
(395-408), pour protester contre la déposition de saint Jean Chrysostome et
réclamer son rétablissement ; cette délégation échoua au point que les
envoyés du Pape ne furent même pas reçus par l’Empereur, mais Boniface y acquit
une certaine expérience de l’Orient qu’Innocent I° mit à profit en le chargeant
de nombreuses missions. Rappelé à Rome après la mort d’Innocent I° (12 mars
417), il n’y arriva que peu de jours avant la mort de son successeur, Zosime
(26 décembre 418). Alors que, dans l’église du Latran, un collège électoral,
réuni illégalement par les diacres, avait élu comme pape l’archidiacre Eulalius
(vendredi 27 décembre 418), dans l’église de Théodora, Boniface fut élu par un
autre collège, plus large et légalement convoqué, avec l’appui de la majorité
des prêtres romains (samedi 28 décembre 418) ; il fut consacré, le
lendemain, dans l’église Marcelli et conduit à Saint-Pierre, tandis que
l’évêque d’Ostie, au Latran, ordonnait Eulalius prêtre. Circonvenu par le
préfet de la Ville, Symmaque, favorable à Eulalius, l’empereur d’Occident,
Honorius (395-423), confirma l’élection de l’anti-pape et ordonna que Boniface
I° fût expulsé de Rome (3 janvier 419). Après que Boniface se fut réfugié au cimetière
de Sainte-Félicité, une délégation alla protester auprès d’Honorius qui, à
Ravenne, convoqua un concile pour départager les rivaux (8 février 419). Le
concile de Ravenne n’ayant pas donné satisfaction, Honorius décida de convoquer
un concile plus important, à Spolète, pour la Pentecôte ; en attendant, il
ordonna aux deux compétiteurs de se retirer de Rome, et chargea l’évêque
Achille de Spolète qui n’était
d’aucun parti, d’assurer les célébrations pascales. Boniface obéit, mais comme
Eulalius, le 18 mars, était rentré à Rome et, le 29 mars, avait occupé le
Latran dont on eut beaucoup de mal à le chasser, le 3 avril, Honorius confirma
par une lettre impériale (reçue à Rome le 8 avril) l’élection de Boniface.
Eulalius mourut en 423.
Agé et de santé fragile, d’un
tempérament calme et pacifique, Boniface I° exerça son autorité dans des
circonstances troublées. I1 dut pourvoir à la condamnation des pélagiens,
régler l'affaire délicate d'un évêque africain, Apiarius, qui en avait appelé au
Siège apostolique, intervenir en Gaule pour régler la situation juridique de
l'évêque d'Arles qui prétendait exercer la primauté sur ses collègues, défendre
en Orient les droits traditionnels du Saint-Siège sur l'Illyricum. Dans toutes
ces questions, il fit preuve d'une haute conscience de sa charge : « Il
n’a jamais été légitime, écrivit-il, de reconsidérer ce qui a été une
fois décidé par le Siège Apostolique. » Le Liber pontificalis
lui attribue en outre diverses réformes liturgiques ou canoniques. Il mourut le 4 septembre 422.
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/09/04.php
Boniface I, Pope (RM)
Died September 4, 423. In 418, Saint Boniface, an old Roman priest, was elected
pope the day after a group of dissidents had seized the Lateran and elected
Eulalius pope. Emperor Honorius called two councils, decided in favor of Boniface,
and ousted Eulalius and his faction. Later in his papacy he had to deal with
the ever-recurring claims of the patriarch of Constantinople. Boniface
continued his predecessor's opposition to Pelagianism, persuaded Emperor
Theodosius II to return Illyricum to Western jurisdiction, and gently, but
firmly, defended the rights of the Holy See. He supported Saint Augustine, who
dedicated several treatises against Pelagianism to him (Benedictines, Delaney).
Pope St. Boniface I
Elected 28 December, 418;
d. at Rome, 4 September, 422. Little is known of his life
antecedent to his election. The "Liber Pontificalis" calls him a Roman, and the son of
the presbyter Jocundus. He is believed to have
been ordained by Pope Damasus I (366-384) and to have served as representative
of Innocent I at Constantinople (c. 405).
At he death of Pope Zosimus, the Roman Church entered into the fifth of the schisms, resulting from double papal elections, which
so disturbed her peace during the early centuries. Just after Zosimus's
obsequies, 27 December, 418, a faction of the Roman clergy consisting principally of deacons seized the Lateran basilica and elected as pope the Archdeacon Eulalius. The higher clergy tried to enter, but were violently repulsed by a mob of adherents of the Eulalian
party. On the following day they met in the church of Theodora and elected as pope, much against his will, the aged Boniface, a priest highly esteemed for his charity, learning, and
good character. On Sunday, 29 December, both were consecrated, Boniface in the Basilica of St. Marcellus,
supported by nine provincial bishops and some seventy priests; Eulalius in the Lateran basilica in the presence of the deacons, a few priests and the Bishop of Ostia, who was summoned from his sickbed to assist
at the ordination. Each claimant proceeded to act as pope, and Rome was thrown into tumultuous confusion by the
clash of the rival factions. The Prefect of Rome, Symmachus, hostile to Boniface, reported the
trouble to the Emperor Honorius at Ravenna, and secured the imperial confirmation of
Eulalius's election. Boniface was expelled from the city. His adherents,
however, secured a hearing from the emperor who called a synod of Italian bishops at Ravenna to meet the rival popes and discuss the situation (February, March,
419). Unable to reach a decision, the synod made a few practical provisions
pending a general council of Italian, Gaulish, and African bishops to be convened in May to settle the
difficulty. It ordered both claimants to leave Rome until a decision was reached and forbade
return under penalty of condemnation. As Easter, 30 March, was approaching, Achilleus, Bishop of Spoleto, was deputed to conduct the paschal services
in the vacant Roman See. Boniface was sent, it seems, to
the cemetery of St. Felicitas on the Via Salaria, and Eulalius to
Antium. On 18 March, Eulalius boldly returned to Rome, gathered his partisans, stirred up strife
anew, and spurning the prefect's orders to leave the city, seized the Lateran basilica on Holy Saturday (29 March), determined to preside at the
paschal ceremonies. The imperial troops were required to dispossess him and
make it possible for Achilleus to conduct the services. The emperor was deeply
indignant at these proceedings and refusing to consider again the claims of
Eulalius, recognized Boniface as legitimate pope (3 April, 418). The latter re-entered Rome 10 April and was acclaimed by the people.
Eulalius was made bishop either of Nepi in Tuscany or of some Campanian see, according to the
conflicting data of the sources of the "Liber Pontificalis". The schism had lasted fifteen weeks. Early in 420, the pope's critical illness encouraged the artisans of
Eulalius to make another effort. On his recovery Boniface requested the emperor
(1 July, 420) to make some provision against possible renewal of the schism in the event of his death. Honorius enacted a
law providing that, in contested Papal elections, neither claimant should be
recognized and a new election should be held.
Boniface's reign was marked
by great zeal and activity in disciplinary organization and
control. He reversed his predecessor's policy of endowing certain Western bishops with extraordinary papal vicariate powers. Zosimus had given to
Patroclus, Bishop of Arles, extensive jurisdiction in the provinces of Vienna and Narbonne, and had made him an intermediary
between these provinces and the Apostolic See. Boniface diminished these primatial rights and restored the metropolitan powers of the chief bishops of provinces. Thus he sustained Hilary, Archbishop of Narbonne, in his choice of a bishop of the vacant See of Lodeve, against
Patroclus, who tried to intrude another (422). So, too, he insisted that
Maximus, Bishop of Valence, should be tried for his alleged crimes, not
by a primate, but by a synod of the bishops of Gaul, and promised to sustain their
decision (419). Boniface succeeded to Zosimus's difficulties with the African
Church regarding appeals to Rome and, in particular, the case of Apiarius. The Council of Carthage, having heard the representations of Zosimus's
legates, sent to Boniface on 31 May, 419, a letter in
reply to the commonitorium of his predecessor. It stated that
the council had been unable to verify the canons which the legates had quoted as Nicene, but which were later
found to be Sardican. It agreed, however, to observe them until verification
could be established. This letter is often cited in illustration of the defiant
attitude of the African Church to the Roman See. An unbiased study of it, however, must lead
to no more extreme conclusion than that of Dom Chapman: "it was written in
considerable irritation, yet in a studiously moderate tone" (Dublin
Review. July, 1901, 109-119). The Africans were irritated at the insolence of
Boniface's legates and incensed at being urged to obey laws which they thought were not consistently enforced
at Rome. This they told Boniface in no uncertain
language; yet, far from repudiating his authority, they promised to obey the
suspected laws thus recognizing the pope's office as guardian of the Church's discipline. In 422 Boniface received the
appeal of Anthony of Fussula who, through the efforts of St. Augustine, had been deposed by a provincial synod of
Numidia, and decided that he should be restored if his innocence be
established. Boniface ardently supported St. Augustine in combating Pelagianism. Having received two Pelagian letters calumniating Augustine, he sent them to him. In
recognition of this solicitude Augustine dedicated to Boniface his rejoinder contained
in "Contra duas Epistolas Pelagianoruin Libri quatuor".
In the East he zealously maintained his jurisdiction over the ecclesiastical provinces of
Illyricurn, of which the Patriarch of Constantinople was trying to secure control
on account of their becoming a part of the Eastern empire. The Bishop of Thessalonica had been constituted papal vicar in this territory, exercising jurisdiction over the metropolitans and bishops. By letters to Rufus, the contemporary
incumbent of the see, Boniface watched closely over the interests
of the Illyrian church and insisted on obedience to Rome. In 421 dissatisfaction expressed by certain
malcontents among the bishops, on account of the pope's refusal to confirm the election of Perigines
as Bishop of Corinth unless the candidate was recognized by Rufus,
served as a pretext for the young emperor Theodosius II to grant the ecclesiastical dominion of Illyricurn to the Patriarch of Constantinople (14 July, 421). Boniface
remonstrated with Honorius against the violation of the rights of his see, and prevailed upon him to urge Theodosius to
rescind his enactment. The law was not enforced, but it remained in the
Theodosian (439) and Justinian (534) codes and caused much trouble for
succeeding popes. By a letter of 11 March, 422, Boniface
forbade the consecration in Illyricum of any bishop whom Rufus would not recognize. Boniface
renewed the legislation of Pope Soter, prohibiting women to touch the sacred linens or to minister at
the burning of incense. He enforced the laws forbidding slaves to become clerics. He was buried in the cemetery of Maximus on the Via Salaria,
near the tomb of his favorite, St. Felicitas, in whose honor and in gratitude for whose aid
he had erected an oratory over the cemetery bearing her name. The Church keeps his feast on 25 October.
Sources
Liber Pontificalis, ed.
DUCHESNE (Paris, 1886), 1, pp. lxii, 227-229; JAME, Regesta Romanorum
Pontificum (Leipzig, 1885), 1, 51-54; Acta SS.,
XIII, 62*; LIX, 605--616; BARONIUS, Annales
(Bar-le-Duc, 1866), VII, 152-231; TILLEMONT, Mémoires
(Venice, 1732), XII, 385-407; 666-670; P.L., XVIII, 397-406; XX, 745-792; HEFELE,
Conciliengeschichte and translation, §§ 120, 122;
DUCHESNE, Fastes Episcopaux de l'Ancienne Gaul
(Paris, 1894), I 84-109; Les Eglíses Séparées (Paris,
1905), 229-279; BUCHANAN in Dict. Christ. Biog., s.v.; GREGORIUS-HAMILTON, Hist. of Rome in the Middle Ages (London, 1894), I, 180-181.
Peterson, John Bertram.
"Pope St. Boniface I." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 4 Sept. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02658a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was
transcribed for New Advent by Bob Mathewson.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02658a.htm
October 25
St. Boniface I., Pope and Confessor
BONIFACE was a priest of an unblemished character, well versed in the discipline of the church, and advanced in years when he succeeded Zosimus in the pontificate on the 29th of December in 418. His election was made much against his will, as the relation of it, which was sent by the clergy and people of Rome, and by the neighbouring bishops to the Emperor Honorius, who resided at Ravenna, testifies. To it concurred seventy priests, some bishops, and the greatest part of the people; but three bishops and some others chose one Eulalius, an ambitious and intriguing man. Symmachus, prefect of Rome, sent an account of this division or schism to the emperor, who ordered that a synod should be assembled to determine the debate. The council which met desired that a greater number of prelates should be called, and made certain provisional decrees, to which Eulalius refused to submit. Whereupon he was condemned by a sentence of the council, and the election of Boniface ratified. This pope was a lover of peace, and remarkable for his mildness: yet he would not suffer the bishops of Constantinople to extend their patriarchate into Illyricum or the other western provinces which were then subject to the eastern empire, but had always belonged to the western patriarchate. He strenuously maintained the rights of Rufus, bishop of Thessalonica, who was his vicar in Thessaly and Greece, and would allow no election of bishops to be made in those countries which were not confirmed by him, according to the ancient discipline. In Gaul he restored certain privileges to the metropolitical sees of Narbonne and Vienne, exempting them from any subjection to the primacy of Arles. This holy pope exerted his zeal against the Pelagians, and testified the highest esteem for the great St. Austin, who addressed to him four books against the Pelagians. St. Boniface in his third letter to Rufus, says: 1 “The blessed apostle Peter received by our Lord’s sentence and commission the care of the whole church, which was founded upon him.” 2 St. Boniface died towards the latter end of the year 422, having sat somewhat above three years and nine months, and was buried in the cemetery of St. Felicitas, which he had adorned on the Salarian Way. He had made many rich presents of silver patens, chalices, and other holy vessels to the churches in Rome. Bede quotes a book of his miracles, and the Roman Martyrology commemorates his name on this day. See his Epistles in Dom. Coutant’s complete edition of the Decretal Epistles of the Popes, of which he only lived to publish the first volume, in 1721, dying the same year at St. Germain des Prez. 3 The epistles of this pope are also printed in the collections of the councils, as in Labbe’s edition, t. 2, p. 1582, and t. 4, p. 1702. See on his life Baronius, and the Pontifical published by Anastasius the Librarian, (ap. Muratori Script. Ital. t. 3, p. 116,) with the dissertations of Ciampini, Schelstrate, Biancini, and Vignolius on that Pontifical.
Note 1. Decretal. epist. t. 1, p. 1039, ed. Coutant. [back]
Note 2. Matt. xvi. and xviii. [back]
Note 3. In the preliminary dissertation on the pope’s authority, Dom Coutant demonstrates by the testimonies of St. Cyprian, St. Optatus, St. Jerom, &c. what St. Boniface affirms, that the church always acknowledged the primacy of the Roman see to be derived from Christ, (who conferred the supreme authority on St. Peter,) not from the emperors, as Photius pretended in order to establish his schism. The same author shows, that all the popes to the beginning of the sixth century, except Liberius, (who rose after his fall with so much zeal and piety that St. Ambrose speaks of his virtue in strains of admiration,) are enrolled by the church among the saints. The name pope (or father) was anciently common to all bishops; but as the style with regard to titles changed, this became reserved to the bishop of Rome. St. Gelasius, St. Leo, St. Gregory, Symmachus, Hormisdas, Vigilius, and other popes, frequently styled themselves Vicars of St. Peter. That the title of Vicar of Christ was also anciently given sometimes to the popes is manifest from the fifteenth letter of St. Cyprian to Cornelius; and from the testimony of the bishops and priests who after Pope Gelasius had absolved the Bishop Misenus, unanimously cried out, that they acknowledged in his person the Vicar of Jesus Christ. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume X: October. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/10/254.html
Papa e antipapa, dunque. Allora si ribella la maggioranza; e, per riportare la pace, l’imperatore vieta a tutti e due di celebrare in Roma i riti pasquali dell’anno 419. Ma Eulalio si ribella, occupando la sede pontificia del Laterano con i suoi sostenitori, e allora viene sconfessato anche dal sovrano. Così Bonifacio può finalmente mettersi all’opera. Ora è Papa legittimo: ma pure sfortunato. Prima di lui, infatti, la Chiesa è stata maldestramente governata da papa Zosimo, di origine greca. Costui, volonteroso ma inesperto, interveniva nelle controversie dottrinali in Africa e in Gallia con l’intenzione di mettere pace, ma con iniziative che inasprivano ancora di più la conflittualità.
Bonifacio, con la sua migliore conoscenza dei problemi, riesce a placare le tensioni tra i vescovi e tra i fedeli. E poi sa pacificamente mandare a monte le manovre dell’imperatore Teodosio II d’Oriente: questi, già padrone politicamente di territori balcani, li vorrebbe controllare anche sul piano religioso, mettendoli alle dipendenze del patriarca di Costantinopoli (che è nominato da lui). Papa Bonifacio si oppone al progetto e la spunta, evitando però ogni rischio di conflitto. Ha fama di dotto, è amico di sant’Agostino, e accoglie cordialmente a Roma il suo amico Alipio, vescovo di Tagaste. Così, dopo le turbolenze, Bonifacio risolleva il prestigio della Sede romana, e riporta in essa la tranquillità. Quando muore, lo seppelliscono sulla via Salaria, vicino alla tomba della martire Felicita. Ciò potrebbe essere un ricordo del suo drammatico esordio come pontefice. Sembra infatti che proprio in quel luogo della via Salaria egli avesse trovato rifugio nei giorni agitati della doppia elezione pontificia, quando i fautori di Eulalio – sostenuti dagli alti funzionari imperiali – erano più minacciosi. In quel luogo, Bonifacio aveva poi costruito un oratorio e provveduto alle decorazioni per il sepolcro di Felicita e di uno dei suoi figli, Silvano.
Autore: Domenico Agasso
October 25
St. Boniface I., Pope and Confessor
BONIFACE was a priest of an unblemished character, well versed in the discipline of the church, and advanced in years when he succeeded Zosimus in the pontificate on the 29th of December in 418. His election was made much against his will, as the relation of it, which was sent by the clergy and people of Rome, and by the neighbouring bishops to the Emperor Honorius, who resided at Ravenna, testifies. To it concurred seventy priests, some bishops, and the greatest part of the people; but three bishops and some others chose one Eulalius, an ambitious and intriguing man. Symmachus, prefect of Rome, sent an account of this division or schism to the emperor, who ordered that a synod should be assembled to determine the debate. The council which met desired that a greater number of prelates should be called, and made certain provisional decrees, to which Eulalius refused to submit. Whereupon he was condemned by a sentence of the council, and the election of Boniface ratified. This pope was a lover of peace, and remarkable for his mildness: yet he would not suffer the bishops of Constantinople to extend their patriarchate into Illyricum or the other western provinces which were then subject to the eastern empire, but had always belonged to the western patriarchate. He strenuously maintained the rights of Rufus, bishop of Thessalonica, who was his vicar in Thessaly and Greece, and would allow no election of bishops to be made in those countries which were not confirmed by him, according to the ancient discipline. In Gaul he restored certain privileges to the metropolitical sees of Narbonne and Vienne, exempting them from any subjection to the primacy of Arles. This holy pope exerted his zeal against the Pelagians, and testified the highest esteem for the great St. Austin, who addressed to him four books against the Pelagians. St. Boniface in his third letter to Rufus, says: 1 “The blessed apostle Peter received by our Lord’s sentence and commission the care of the whole church, which was founded upon him.” 2 St. Boniface died towards the latter end of the year 422, having sat somewhat above three years and nine months, and was buried in the cemetery of St. Felicitas, which he had adorned on the Salarian Way. He had made many rich presents of silver patens, chalices, and other holy vessels to the churches in Rome. Bede quotes a book of his miracles, and the Roman Martyrology commemorates his name on this day. See his Epistles in Dom. Coutant’s complete edition of the Decretal Epistles of the Popes, of which he only lived to publish the first volume, in 1721, dying the same year at St. Germain des Prez. 3 The epistles of this pope are also printed in the collections of the councils, as in Labbe’s edition, t. 2, p. 1582, and t. 4, p. 1702. See on his life Baronius, and the Pontifical published by Anastasius the Librarian, (ap. Muratori Script. Ital. t. 3, p. 116,) with the dissertations of Ciampini, Schelstrate, Biancini, and Vignolius on that Pontifical.
Note 1. Decretal. epist. t. 1, p. 1039, ed. Coutant. [back]
Note 2. Matt. xvi. and xviii. [back]
Note 3. In the preliminary dissertation on the pope’s authority, Dom Coutant demonstrates by the testimonies of St. Cyprian, St. Optatus, St. Jerom, &c. what St. Boniface affirms, that the church always acknowledged the primacy of the Roman see to be derived from Christ, (who conferred the supreme authority on St. Peter,) not from the emperors, as Photius pretended in order to establish his schism. The same author shows, that all the popes to the beginning of the sixth century, except Liberius, (who rose after his fall with so much zeal and piety that St. Ambrose speaks of his virtue in strains of admiration,) are enrolled by the church among the saints. The name pope (or father) was anciently common to all bishops; but as the style with regard to titles changed, this became reserved to the bishop of Rome. St. Gelasius, St. Leo, St. Gregory, Symmachus, Hormisdas, Vigilius, and other popes, frequently styled themselves Vicars of St. Peter. That the title of Vicar of Christ was also anciently given sometimes to the popes is manifest from the fifteenth letter of St. Cyprian to Cornelius; and from the testimony of the bishops and priests who after Pope Gelasius had absolved the Bishop Misenus, unanimously cried out, that they acknowledged in his person the Vicar of Jesus Christ. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume X: October. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/10/254.html
San Bonifacio I Papa
m. 422
(Papa
dal 29/12/418 al 4/09/422)
Romano, il suo pontificato fu segnato da tumulti, provocati dai sostenitori
dell'antipapa Eulalio (Papa dal 418-419), che infine si sottomise e venne
nominato vescovo di Nepi.
Martirologio
Romano: A Roma nel cimitero di Massimo sulla via Salaria, deposizione di
san Bonifacio I, papa, che risolse molte controversie inerenti alla disciplina
ecclesiastica.
Suo padre è un prete
romano di nome Giocondo, nel tempo in cui non c’è ancora una legislazione
compiutamente definita sul celibato ecclesiastico. Molti sacerdoti già lo
praticano spontaneamente; però è anche consentita l’ordinazione di uomini
sposati, mentre invece si vieta il matrimonio a chi sia già diacono o
sacerdote. Bonifacio, colto ed equilibrato, si trova già avanti negli anni
quando lo fanno Papa: e non certo pacificamente. A causa della litigiosità
interna durante il precedente breve pontificato di papa Zosimo, c’è divisione
anche nel clero e nel popolo romano. E così, mentre la maggioranza del clero e
del popolo elegge Bonifacio, altri nello stesso giorno eleggono l’arcidiacono
Eulalio, subito riconosciuto dall’imperatore occidentale Onorio, che risiede a
Ravenna.
Papa e antipapa, dunque. Allora si ribella la maggioranza; e, per riportare la pace, l’imperatore vieta a tutti e due di celebrare in Roma i riti pasquali dell’anno 419. Ma Eulalio si ribella, occupando la sede pontificia del Laterano con i suoi sostenitori, e allora viene sconfessato anche dal sovrano. Così Bonifacio può finalmente mettersi all’opera. Ora è Papa legittimo: ma pure sfortunato. Prima di lui, infatti, la Chiesa è stata maldestramente governata da papa Zosimo, di origine greca. Costui, volonteroso ma inesperto, interveniva nelle controversie dottrinali in Africa e in Gallia con l’intenzione di mettere pace, ma con iniziative che inasprivano ancora di più la conflittualità.
Bonifacio, con la sua migliore conoscenza dei problemi, riesce a placare le tensioni tra i vescovi e tra i fedeli. E poi sa pacificamente mandare a monte le manovre dell’imperatore Teodosio II d’Oriente: questi, già padrone politicamente di territori balcani, li vorrebbe controllare anche sul piano religioso, mettendoli alle dipendenze del patriarca di Costantinopoli (che è nominato da lui). Papa Bonifacio si oppone al progetto e la spunta, evitando però ogni rischio di conflitto. Ha fama di dotto, è amico di sant’Agostino, e accoglie cordialmente a Roma il suo amico Alipio, vescovo di Tagaste. Così, dopo le turbolenze, Bonifacio risolleva il prestigio della Sede romana, e riporta in essa la tranquillità. Quando muore, lo seppelliscono sulla via Salaria, vicino alla tomba della martire Felicita. Ciò potrebbe essere un ricordo del suo drammatico esordio come pontefice. Sembra infatti che proprio in quel luogo della via Salaria egli avesse trovato rifugio nei giorni agitati della doppia elezione pontificia, quando i fautori di Eulalio – sostenuti dagli alti funzionari imperiali – erano più minacciosi. In quel luogo, Bonifacio aveva poi costruito un oratorio e provveduto alle decorazioni per il sepolcro di Felicita e di uno dei suoi figli, Silvano.
Autore: Domenico Agasso