“In full right do we celebrate the heavenly birthday of these children. The end of the present life is for them the beginning of glory. These then are justly hailed as “infant martyr flowers”; they were the Church’s first blossoms, matured by the frost of persecution during the cold winter of unbelief.”[1]

Today we honor the Holy Innocents, the young boys who were killed by king Herod. Hearing of the birth of the Infant Jesus, Herod issued a decree massacring these children in a vain attempt to destroy the Savior, whom he feared might grow to be a rival king. Today, we honor these tiny martyrs and pray with them for all the children in the world. [2][3][4]

Written by Sarah Ciotti
Reviewed by Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB, STD
[1] From a sermon of Saint Augustine, The Holy Innocents
[2] Catholicpedia: The Original Catholic Encyclopedia (1917) for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. s.v. “Holy Innocents.”
[3] F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingstone, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (London: Oxford University Press, 1974), 658.
[4] Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB, The Martyrology of the Monastery of the Ascension, 2008.