St Bruno Boniface (circa 974-1009)

     The last three saints, Bruno Boniface, Peter Damian, and Paula, may have all been influenced by the same school of monasticism, the Camaldolese, founded by the tenth century religious reformer Saint Romuald.

      Romuald came from Ravenna in the north-east of Italy. After some years in a monastery, he became convinced that monks should move back towards the more solitary, hermit-like existence of Saint Anthony. He left the monastery and travelled far, advocating the solitary path, and setting up hermitages and new monastic communities that put more emphasis on a solitary life-style. One of these monasteries was at a place called Camaldoli, and this gave its name to the new monastic order, the Camaldolese.

     This brings us to Bruno Boniface. He is not to be confused with Boniface of Crediton, the famous seventh-century English saint who took the gospel to Germany. Bruno Boniface was born in the late tenth century, and was the first famous disciple of Saint Romuald. His white attire in the painting marks him out as a member of the Camaldolese order.

     Bruno is remembered as a martyr who died while still in his thirties. He felt called to be a missionary among the pagans of Central Europe, in Prussia, Hungary, and south-west Russia. He took to this task bravely, but met with fierce local opposition, and was put to death along with eighteen of his colleagues. In the painting Bruno holds a feather, a symbol of martyrdom.


    

Article by Will Hardy