
Boniface, son of Sigisbald, is the first pope recorded with Germanic ancestry. He served the Roman Church from youth and was archdeacon under Felix IV, who named him as his successor. Most of the clergy instead elected Dioscorus, but Dioscorus died after twenty-two days and Boniface was then accepted.
He confirmed the Second Council of Orange, which brought the Semipelagian dispute about grace to a close. He tried to name his own successor, the deacon Vigilius, but withdrew the decree when it met opposition. He was remembered for his charity to the poor of Rome during a famine. He died in October 532.
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