entres and
binding them to the papacy, Boniface seems to have been actuated by
simple zeal for unity of the faith, and not by a conscious political
motive.

Though pre-eminently a man of action, Boniface has left several literary
remains. We have above all his Letters (_Epistolae_), difficult to date,
but extremely important from the standpoint of history, dogma, or
literature; see Dummler's edition in the _Monumenta Germaniae
historica_, 1892. Besides these there are a grammar (_De octo partibus
orationibus_, ed. Mai, in _Classici Auctores_, t. vii.), some sermons of
contested authenticity, some poems (_Aenigmata_, ed. Dummler, _Poetae
latini aevi Carolini_, i. 1881), a penitential, and some _Dicta
Bonifacii_ (ed. Nurnberger in _Theologische Quartalschrift_, Tubingen,
vol. 70, 1888), the authenticity of which it is hard to prove or to
refute. Migne in his _Patrologia Latina_ (vol. 89) has reproduced the
edition of Boniface's works by Giles (London, 1844).

There are very many monographs on Boniface and on different phases of
his life (see Potthast, _Bibliotheca medii aevi_, and Ulysse
Chevalier's _Bibliographie_, 2nd ed. for indications), but none that
is completely satisfactory. Among recent studies are those of B.
Kuhlmann, _Der heilige Bonifatius, Apostel der Deutschen_ (Paderborn,
1895), and of G. Kurth, _Saint Boniface_ (2nd ed., 1902). W. Levison
has edited the _Vitae sancti Bonifatii_ (Hanover, 1905).
(J. T. S.*)

BONIFACE (_Bonifacius_), the name of nine of the popes.

BONIFACE I., bishop of Rome from 418 to 422. At the death of Pope
Zosimus, the Roman clergy were divided into two factions, one of which
elected the deacon Eulalius, and the other the priest Boniface. The
imperial government, in the interests of public order, commanded the two
competitors to leave the town, reserving the decision of the case to a
council. Eulalius having broken his ban, the emperor Honorius decided to
recognize Boniface, and the council was countermanded. But the faction
of Eulalius long continued to foment disorders, and the secular
authority was compelled to intervene.

BONIFACE II., pope from 530 to 532, was by birth a Goth, and owed his
election to the nomination of his predecessor, Felix IV., and to the
influence of the Gothic king. The Roman electors had opposed to him a
priest of Alexandria called Dioscorus, who died a month after his
election, and thus left the position open for him. Bonif