Boniface of Brussels

Saint Boniface
Bishop of Lausanne
Stained-glass window in the Saint-Peter's Church in Brussels.
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Diocese	Lausanne
See	Lausanne
Appointed	1231
Installed	March 1231
Term ended	1239
Predecessor	Guillaume di Cenblens
Successor	Jean di Cossonay
Orders
Consecration	c. 1231
Rank	Bishop
Personal details
Birth name	Boniface
Born	1183 Brussels, Belgium
Died	19 February 1260 (aged 69) La Cambre, Brussels, Belgium
Sainthood
Feast day	19 February
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	1603 by Pope Clement VIII
Canonized	1702 Saint Peter's Basilica, Papal States by Pope Clement XI
Attributes	Episcopal attire

Saint Boniface (1183 – 19 February 1260) was a Belgian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Lausanne from circa 1231 until 1239 when he resigned after agents of Frederick II assaulted him. His relics are housed at the Kapellekerk and at La Cambre where he had died.

Boniface was born in Belgium in 1183 and in 1200 moved from home to go to Paris for his studies at the college there. Boniface taught dogma and became a popular lecturer. He was ordained to the priesthood while in France and from 1222 until 1229 taught at the college. But there soon became a bitter dispute between the teachers and students which prompted him to leave and find work elsewhere. He later taught until 1231 in Cologne at the cathedral school.

He became the Bishop of Lausanne in 1231 and was enthroned in his new see in March 1231 after receiving his episcopal consecration. He was enthusiastic about this appointment but was faced with corrupt priests which he condemned in a pulpit address while also singling out King Frederick II. The king sent his agents to attack Boniface who sustained serious injuries but managed to escape. He travelled to Rome and secured permission from a reluctant Pope Gregory IX to resign. The pope wanted to make him the bishop of another see though Boniface refused the offer.

In 1245 he attended the First Council of Lyon which Pope Innocent IV had convoked.