Saint Boniface IV

Pope Boniface IV (Latin: Bonifatius IV; 550 – 8 May 615) was the bishop of Rome from 608 to his death on 8 May 615. He was a member of the Benedictine order. Boniface had served as a deacon under Pope Gregory I, and like his mentor, he ran the Lateran Palace as a monastery. As pope, he encouraged monasticism. With imperial permission, he converted the Pantheon into a church. In 610, he conferred with Bishop Mellitus of London regarding the needs of the English Church. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church with a universal feast day on 8 May. Boniface was born in what is now the Province of L'Aquila. His father was a physician named John. His family was of Marsi origins according to the Liber Pontificalis. During the pontificate of Gregory the Great, Boniface was a deacon of the Roman Church and held the position of dispensator, that is, the first official in connection with the administration of the patrimonies. Boniface IV was elected to succeed Boniface III, but a vacancy of over nine months ensued, awaiting imperial confirmation from Constantinople. He was consecrated on either 25 August, according to Duchesne, or 15 September, according to Jaffé, in 608. The Vatican lists the official beginning of his papacy as 25 September. Boniface obtained leave from Emperor Phocas to convert the Pantheon in Rome into a Christian church, and on 13 May 609, the temple erected by Agrippa to Jupiter the Avenger, Venus, and Mars was consecrated by the pope in honor of the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs. It was the first instance in Rome of a pagan temple being transformed into a place of Christian worship. Twenty-eight cartloads of sacred bones were said to have been removed from the Catacombs and placed in a porphyry basin beneath the high altar. In 610, Mellitus, the first bishop of London, went to Rome "to consult the pope on important matters relative to the newly established English Church".