Saint Boniface, bishop and martyr, was hacked to death by a group of idol-worshippers on this day, June 5, 754. His life was one of tireless struggle to convert the Frisians, early inhabitants of Germania, steeped in paganism and idolatry. The famous story of his boldly chopping down the ‘Donar Oak’, which the pagan Frisians held so sacred that any man who harmed the tree would himself die, has become a symbol of Christianity’s dominance over idolatry. Of course, pagans could respond that there is no strict correspondence between violations of the supernatural order and effects in the natural earthly
