Boniface IV

Pope Boniface IV (; 550 – 8 May 615 (1=Most sources give 8 May as the date of his death; but gives 25 May.) 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.

Pontificate Bust of Boniface IV in San Benedetto dei Marsi, describing him as "of the nation of the Marsi and of the community of Valeria." 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 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. The decrees of the council now extant are spurious. The letter to Æthelberht is considered spurious by Hefele, questionable by Haddan and Stubbs, and genuine by Jaffé.

Between 612 and 615, the Irish missionary Columbanus, then living at Bobbio in Italy, was persuaded by King Agilulf of Lombardy to address a letter on the condemnation of the "Three Chapters" to Boniface IV. He told the pope that he was suspected of heresy for accepting the Fifth Ecumenical Council and exhorted him to summon a council and prove his orthodoxy. 25 May - old commemoration date, 28 May - commemoration by Benedictines and Cistercians, 3rd weekend of August - feast of patrons of Luco dei Marsi (Abruzzo) 21 October - translation of relics in 1603,