Feast of the Holy Innocents

In these days after the celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord, there are many important feast days. We had the Feast of St. Stephen on the 26th, the Feast of the Holy Family this past Sunday, and of course have the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God to look forward to on January 1st. Today, December 28th, the Church observes the Feast of the Holy Innocents, those children who were slaughter at King Herod's command in an attempt to kill the newborn Christ.

St. Matthew tells the story (2:13-18):

"Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,'Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.' Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son.
"When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
'A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.'"

A very beautiful song about this event is the Coventry Carol, sung from the perspective of a mother saying goodbye to her child. Below is a video with a nice rendition of it with the lyrics following.


Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

O sisters too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling for whom we do sing
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All children young to slay.

That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever mourn and sigh,
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

I have often heard today's practice of abortion mentioned as a modern comparison to the massacre of the Holy Innocents. Innocent children are slaughtered legally everyday through abortions. Today I offer my prayers for all of those Holy Innocents who never had the chance to live and for an end to this terrible practice.