Boni

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a state on the E. coast of the S. W. peninsula of the island of Celebes, in the Pacific Ocean, with an estimated area of 935 square miles. It was formerly the most powerful state in Celebes, but since 1859 has been practically a Dutch dependency. In the N. the scenery is fine, and the soil fertile-rice, sago, and cassia being produced. The inhabitants, called Bugis, have an allied language to the Macassars, with a literature of their own. As enterprising merchants and sailors the Bugis are found in every port of the East Indian Archipelago; they also engage in agriculture and in the manufacture of cotton and articles of gold and iron, in which they have a large trade. The capital, called Boni, stands on the coast of the S. W. peninsula. The Gulf of Boni separates . the S. E. and S. W. peninsulas of Celebes It is 200 miles long, and 40-80 miles broad. Pop. about 200,000. BONIFACE I., a Pope, elected after the death of Zozimus, 418, and maintained in the pontifical chair by the Emperor Honorius, against his rival Eulalius. He died in 422. BONIFACE II. succeeded Felix IV., in 530. He was born at Rome, his father the bishops being a Goth. He compelled in a council to allow him to nominate his successor, and accordingly he named Vigil; but another council disavowed the proceedings of the first. He died in 532. BONIFACE III. succeeded Sabinianus, in 607, and died a few months after his election; but he obtained from the Emperor Phocas the acknowledgment that the See of Rome was supreme over all other churches. BONIFACE IV. was the son of a physician, and came to the tiara in 608. He converted the Pantheon into a church. He died in 625. 617, and died in 625. BONIFACE VI. succeeded Formosus in 896, and died 18 days after his election. BONIFACE VII., whose surname was Francone, assumed the chair after murdering Benedict VI. and John XIV. He was acknowledged sovereign pontiff in 974, and died in 984. His corpse was exposed in the public streets, and trodden under foot. BONIFACE VIII., in 1294, terrified his predecessor Celestine into a resignation, by denouncing to him, at midnight, eternal damnation if he did not quit the pontifical chair. The credulous Pope, thinking this supernatural voice, a obeyed the command next day, and the crafty cardinal was elected. He commenced his pontificate by imprisoning his predecessor, and laying Denmark under an interdict. He incited the princes of Germany to revolt against Albert of Austria; and also issued a bull, in which he asserted that God had set him over kings and kingdoms. Philip the Fair caused this bull to be burned at Paris; on which Boniface laid France under an interdict. Philip appealed to a general council, and sent his army into Italy, which took Boniface prisoner. The pontiff's behavior on this occasion was courageous, for, putting on the tiara, and taking the keys and the crosier in his hands, he said: "I am a Pope, and a Pope I will die." He died at Rome, a few months afterward, in 1303. He wrote several works. His persecuting qualities are alluded to by Dante, in the 27th chapter of the "Inferno." BONIFACE IX. was a Neapolitan by birth, and of a noble family. He was 1389. made cardinal in 1381, and Pope in He died in 1404.