THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
chose Boniface, the son of the priest Jocundus, consecrating him on the following day. In accordance with the report of Symmachus, the emperor Honorius recognized Eulalius, and Boniface had to leave Rome. His supporters appealed to the emperor, representing him as the choice of the majority. Honorius called a council to meet at Ravenna, Feb. 8, 419, to decide the matter, but it reached no conclusion, and another was summoned for May 1, both candidates being forbidden to enter Rome in the mean time. Eulalius, however, entered the city on Mar. 18, and had to be removed forcibly; and Honorius now recognized Boniface, who took up his duties on Apr. 10. This contest caused Honorius to decree that in any subsequent case of a contested election, both candidates should be set aside and a new choice made. When Boniface I intervened in any ecclesiastical disputes, he showed great justice and moderation. The clergy of Valence accused their bishop Maximus of grievous crimes; Boniface referred the matter to a Gallic synod, reserving to himself the right to review its decision. Considering the privilege granted by Pope Zosimus (417) to Bishop Patroclus of Aries, to consecrate bishops for the provinces known as Viennensis, Narbonensis prima, and Xarbonensis secunda, to be an infringement of earlier canonical provisions, he did not hesitate to withdraw it so far as to allow the bishop of Narbonne this metropolitan privilege for the Provincia Narbonensis prima. He was involved in long-drawnout negotiations with the patriarch of Constantinople. Certain Illyrian bishops, wishing to bring charges against Bishop Perigenes of Patras, who had been chosen metropolitan of Corinth, getting satisfaction neither from the papal delegate for Illyria, Bishop Rufus of Thessalonica, nor from the pope himself, turned to Atticus of Constantinople for redress. The latter procured an edict from the emperor Theodosius II (421), placing Illyria under the jurisdiction of Constantinople. Boniface made strong representations to the Byzantine court (Mar., 422), but would probably not have been successful had not the influence of the Western emperor Honorius prevailed with Theodosius, who withdrew the edict. Finally, Boniface had inherited from his predecessor a difficult controversy with the African church (see Zosimus"): he had no better success than Zosimus in securing the recognition in Africa of the right of appeal to Rome. On the contrary, the Synod of Carthage in 419 confirmed the seventeenth canon of the synod of 418, which positively forbade to priests and lower clergy any such appeals, and tolerated them for bishops only on condition that the prescription appealed to could be shown to be Nicene; as a matter of fact, it came from the Council of Sardica. Boniface died Sept. 4, 422, and is reckoned among the saints of the Roman Catholic Church. (A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Liber pontificalia, ed. Duchesne, i, 227, Paris, 1886; ASB, Oct., xi, 605-616; F. Gregorovius, Getchichte der Stadt Rom, i, 170 sqq., Stuttgart, 1875, Eng. trans]., London, 1900; J. Langen, Geschichte der riimitchen Kirche bis Leo I., pp. 763 sqq., Bonn, 1881; Jan"e\ Regesta, i, 52; Hefelo, Conciliengeschichte, ii, 122, Eng. tranal., ii, 466; Bower, Popes, i, 162-166; Neander, Christian Church, ii, 208, 235, 652.
Boniface II : Pope 530-532. After the death of Felix IV (middle of Sept., 530), a contested election followed. The minority, in obedience to the dying charge of Felix, chose the archdeacon Boniface, a Goth; the majority elected Dioscurus, a Greek, and both were consecrated on the same day (Sept. 22). The Roman senate took cognizance of the matter, forbidding under heavy penalties any proceedings in the lifetime of a pope looking toward the elevation of a successor. The schism was soon ended by the death of Dioscurus, Oct. 14. The Liber pontificalis asserts that Boniface proceeded with great violence against his adherents; and we have evidence that five years later the bitterness caused by this was not extinct among the Roman clergy. The close of the Semi-Pelagian controversy falls in the pontificate of Boniface II. In a letter to Csesarius of Aries he pronounced against the opinion that man could attain faith in Christ by his own resources, without the help of divine grace; and at the same time, in accordance with the wishes of Caesarius, he confirmed the decisions of the Synod of Orange. He was always zealous in maintaining, if it was not possible to extend, the papal claims to jurisdiction. When Bishop Stephen of Larissa in Thessaly appealed to him from a sentence of deposition pronounced by the patriarch of Constantinople, Boniface endeavored to reassert the old rights of the Roman See over Illyria, which had been obsolete for a hundred years. The proceedings of a synod held in Rome for this purpose (Dec, 531) seem to have been fruitless, for soon afterward the see of Larissa was filled by a nominee of Constantinople. After attempting in vain to designate the deacon Vigilius as his successor, Boniface died in Oct., 532.
(A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, i, 2S1, Paris, 1886; F. Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, i, 329, Stuttgart, 1875, Eng. transl., London, 1900; L. Duchesne, La Succession du pape Felix IV., Rome, 1SS4; J. Langen, Geschichte der r brnischen Kirche von Leo I. bis Nikolaus I., p. 305, Bonn, 1885; R. Baxmann, Die Politik der Papste von Gregor I. bis auf Gregor VII., i, 20 sqq., Elberfeld, 1868; Jaffe", Regesta, i, 111; Schaff, Christian Church, iii, 326, 869; Neander, Christian Church, ii, 711; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, ii, 737-742, Eng. transl., iv, 165, 167, 171 sqq.; Bower, Popes, i, 331-333.
Boniface III: Pope 607. He was a Roman by birth, previously a deacon and apocrisiarius at the court of Constantinople, to which he had been sent by Gregory the Great in 603. Apparently he was still there when the election took place, as nearly a year elapsed between the death of his predecessor and his consecration (Feb. 19, 607). As (in modern language) nuncio at Constantinople, he had apparently maintained friendly relations with the usurper Phocas, which would account for the favorable decision made by the latter on a point of great importance to the papal claims. One of the commissions given to him by Gregory was the settlement of the strife over the title of "universal bishop " claimed by the patriarch of Constantinople, John the Faster; Gregory did not claim it for himself, but he was unwilling that it should be borne by another. The Liber potitificalis, Paulus Diaconus, and Bede all assert that Phocas recognized Rome as caput omnium ecclesiarum. Though