BONOSUS

330 BONIFACIUS V. (POPE)

died and was buried in St. Peter’s on the 25th ofMay 615, and was succeeded by Deusdedit. Twoepitaphs are given by Baronius and Ciacconius( Vit. Pont.). The latter further says that histomb was opened and the remains removed to thenew St. Peter’s on the 21st of October 1603, wherethey now lie (cf. Gregorovius, Grabmaler d. Ito-mischen Papste , 209). See generally Labbe, v.1616 sq.; Baronius, s. a. 607-14; Migne, Potr.lxxx. [T. R. B.]

BONIFACIUS Y., Pope, a native of thecity of Naples, was elected successor to Deus-dedit, and consecrated on the 23rd of December619 (Jaffa, Pegesta). There is little recorded ofhim. According to Anastasius he was a man ofmild character, and the same authority mentionscertain ordinances chiefly ceremonial enacted byhim. He is said to have completed and conse-crated the cemetery of St. Nicomedes. Duringhis pontificate Italy was disturbed by the rebel-lion of Eleutherius the eunuch, exarch of Ra-venna. Fortunately for Rome the pretender wasassassinated by his own soldiers before he reachedthe city. Boniface died and was buried in St.Peter’s on the 25th of December 625. He wassucceeded by Honorius I. Three genuine lettersof his are extant. One is directed to Justus ofCanterbury sending him the pallium, and con-ferring on him the right of ordaining bishops.The other two relate to the conversion of North-umbria. One, directed to king Edwin, urges himto become a Christian ; the other, to Ethelberga,his affianced bride, exhorts her to the conversionof her husband (see letters in Bede, E. II. ii.8, 10, and 11; also in Labbe, Baronius, andCouncils , &c. by Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 72,75-79). It appears from Bede (lb. ii. 7) thatBoniface had sent a previous hortatory letter toMellitus and Justus which has not been pre-served. The letter to Justus given by Williamof Malmesbury ( Gest. Pont. i. 31) assigning theprimacy to Canterbury, is of questionable authen-ticity. (Councils, &c. iii. 73; Jaffe, Reg. Pout.treats it as genuine. See generally Labbe, Con-cilia. v.; Baronius, s. a.; Migne, lxxx. 429 sq.)

[T. R. B.]

BONIFACIUS QUEKETINIUS—March16, circa A.D. 630. St. Bonifacius, surnamedQueritinus, by others called Albauus Kiritinussurnamed Bonifacius, as he is termed in theUtrecht MSS. used by the Bollandists, has hisreal history so mixed up with fable, that itseems impossible to disentangle the truth fromthe falsehood. According to the legend hewas the Pope of that name, of a Jewishstock descended from a sister of St. Peter andSt. Andrew, and born at Bethsaida; he wasordained priest by John, the Patriarch of Jeru-salem, in his 36th year; four years after hecame to Rome, where he reigned more thanseven years; with seven bishops, two abbesses,and a retinue of seven priests, seven deacons,and of all the minor orders by sevens, hecame to Pictland, and founded churches atInvergowrie, and Restinoth, Forfarshire. Hebaptized King Nectan and all his court. Afterevangelizing and building churches among theSouth Piets, he went to Ross-shire, founded achurch at Rosemarkie and dedicated it to St.Peter: and at the age of eighty and upwards,he died at Rosemarkie, and was buried in the

church of St. Peter. This legend has doubtlessa certain amount of truth, and points to theentrance into Scotland of a strong Italian influ-ence, which was displacing the Irish or Columban:the names of St. Boniface’s companions are fami-liar in Scotch hagiology, and there may be alsoan engrafting of certain Irish elements. But acloser determination appears to be beyond ourreach, than to say that he was an Italian, who,in the beginning of the seventh century, came tcScotland to induce the Scotic church to conformto the Roman customs, and probably closed hislabours at Rosemarkie, as the legend says. ( Brev.Aberd. Prop. SS. pro temp. hyem. ff. lxix. lxx.;Skene, Chron. Piets and Scots , pp. clviii. sq.421-3; Reeves, Culd. 48; Bolland, Acta SS.tom. ii. 444; Proc. Soo . Ant. Scot. i. 281-82Grig. Par. Scot. ii. pt. ii. 567; Edinb. MagJuly 1794, p. 39 ; Bp. Forbes, Kal. Scott. Samts ,281-83.) [J. G.]

BONOC, B. In the Register of the GreatSeal, book 36, No. 72 (MS. General RegisterHouse, Edinburgh), there is a confirmationby King James VI. of Scotland of a chartergranted “per dominum Thomam Wemis capel-lani capellanie Sancti Bonach situate etfundate intra villain de Lucheris.” In theoriginal charter, which is engrossed, the saintis called Bonoc, “ capellanus capelle Sancti Bo-noci,” and is probably St. Bonifandus B. who ac-companied St. Boniface to Pictland [Bonifacius].His relics were at Leuchars, Fifeshire. (Bp.Forbes, Kal. Scott. Saints, 282, 283.) [A. P. F.]

BONOSUS, the founder of the sect of theBonosiani, was bishop of Sardica in Illyria at theend of the 4th century. Some authorities makehim bishop of Naissus in Upper Moesia, but there islittle doubt that that was another bishop of thesame name (Tillemont, x. 754). Bonosus is onlyknown to us as holding the same views withHelvidius with regard to the perpetual virginityof the mother of our Lord, and as to His bre-thren, whom he affirmed to have been the naturaloffspring of Joseph and Mary. At the synod ofCapua convened by Valentinian, A.D, 391, tosettle the rival claims of Flavian and Evagriusto the see of Antioch, opportunity was taken tolay an accusation against Bonosus. The synodwas unwilling to consider the question, and trans-ferred it to Anysius the bishop of Thessalonicaand metropolitan, and his suffragans, who, as aneighbour of Bonosus, might be supposed to bemore fully acquainted with the merits of thecase. From a letter of pope Siricius, erroneouslyattributed to Ambrose, and printed among hisepistles ( Ep . 79), it is evident that Anysius andhis brethren were reluctant to undertake thedecision, and that the pope’s authority wasrequired to induce them to do so (Labbe, ii.1033). Bonosus was on this condemned ofheretical teaching, deposed, and his churchclosed against him. Bonosus consulted Ambrosewhether he should employ force to obtainadmission. Ambrose recommended patience andsubmission. This prudent counsel was not fol-lowed, and the difference was exaggerated .into aschism, which lasted into the 7th century. TheIllyrian bishops, while they deposed Bonosus,recognised the orders of those who had beenordained by him, in the hope of avoiding th*