St. Bonifacius Parrish Hog Roast

I strolled down Main Street St. Bonifacius Sunday afternoon and viewed this remnant of earlier days. An austere white Catholic Church dominates the street, and is accompanied by a wrought iron bordered Cemetery. A Fire Station, Laundromat, 2 bars and a Gun shop. Antique washing machines looked quite comfortable in the window. Do not get me wrong, "St. Boni" is a fast growing community.

St. Bonifacius is the Patron Saint of Germany, and the Netherlands. He was born (Winfrid) in Wessex, England in the eight century. He spent his life converting the German peoples to Christianity...but this is not about his voluminous religious life. It is about the German heritage that still permeates “St. Boni”.

As I respectfully strolled through the Catholic Cemetery on Main Street (God help me I do not need any Teutonic curses leveled at me from the grave) I noticed that many of the marker inscriptions were enscribed in Old German. The early settlers tombstones (circa 1860) were weathered and the sandy edges of the type rounded down to the point of illegibility. I could barely read a few; “His pain is over, he now rests in peace” and “The Lord’s hand has taken her to heaven”. Simple and devout. St. Bonifacius was settled by hardworking stone workers and brick makers. Some of the early markers showed fading but obvious Teutonic influence of German religious art.

I wandered across the street and was struck by the yellow and red banner proclaiming: Hog Roast. (How Teutonic!) St. Bonifacius Parrish, Sept 9th: 11am -4pm.

Sounds delicious....