The Holy Innocents, Martyrs
Ss. Innocentium Martyrum
The Holy Innocents are the children of Bethlehem slain by King Herod in his attempt to destroy the newborn Christ, honoured by the Church as martyrs who bore witness to the Lord not by word but by their death.
The Holy Innocents are the little children of Bethlehem and its district whom King Herod put to death, seeking to destroy the new-born King of the Jews. The Church keeps their feast on the twenty-eighth of December, within the Octave of the Nativity, and venerates them as the first to shed their blood for Christ — flowers of martyrdom, in the words of an ancient hymn, cut down at the very dawn of life.
The flight and the slaughter
Saint Matthew relates that when the Magi came from the East seeking the new-born King, Herod, troubled and fearful for his throne, learned from them the time of the star’s appearing and sent them to Bethlehem. When the wise men, warned in a dream, returned to their own country without reporting to him, Herod was exceedingly angry; and, reckoning the age of the child from what the Magi had told him, he sent and slew all the boys in Bethlehem and its borders from two years old and under. Meanwhile Joseph, warned by an angel, had risen by night and taken the Child and his Mother into Egypt, until the death of Herod, that the word of the prophet might be fulfilled.
In these children, who could not yet speak the name of Christ, the Church has always seen true martyrs. They died in his place and for his sake, and the Lord whom they could not confess with their lips they confessed by their death. The collect of their feast prays that the Lord, whose praise these martyrs proclaimed not by speaking but by dying, may put to death in us all the evil of our sins, so that the faith which our tongue professes our life may also confess in its conduct.
Witnesses without words
The Church has long pondered the mystery of these innocent victims. Saint Augustine and other Fathers marvelled that the malice of Herod served, against his will, the glory of God, and that these little ones, snatched away before they knew the use of reason, were crowned before they could sin. Honoured among the martyrs from the earliest centuries, they stand as a sign that God can perfect his praise even out of the mouths of infants, and that a soul may be wholly given to Christ in an instant by the gift of his grace.
Their feast carries both sorrow and hope. It recalls the cruelty that met the coming of the Prince of Peace, and the tears of Bethlehem foretold by the prophet; yet it proclaims that those who died for the new-born Saviour reign now with him in glory. In the Holy Innocents the Church honours the least and most defenceless of her martyrs, and commends to their care the children of every age.
The Collect
O God, whose praise the Holy Innocents this day confessed, not by speaking, but by dying: put to death in us all the evil of our sins; that our life also may proclaim in deed thy faith, which our tongue doth utter.
Deus, cujus hodiérna die præcónium Innocéntes Mártyres non loquéndo, sed moriéndo conféssi sunt: ómnia in nobis vitiórum mala mortífica; ut fidem tuam, quam lingua nostra lóquitur, étiam móribus vita fateátur.
Patronage
They are venerated as patrons of infants and young children, and are invoked for the protection of the unborn and of all the innocent and defenceless.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar their feast is likewise kept on 28 December, as the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs.
Common Questions
When is the feast of the Holy Innocents?
Their feast is kept on 28 December, within the Octave of Christmas, in both the 1962 Roman Missal (Second Class) and the modern calendar.
Who were the Holy Innocents?
They were the young boys of Bethlehem and its district, two years old and under, whom King Herod ordered killed in his attempt to destroy the new-born Christ, as recorded in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. The Child Jesus was carried safely into Egypt.
Why are they called martyrs if they were too young to choose?
The Church honours them as martyrs because they died in the place of Christ and for his sake. Though they could not yet confess him in words, they bore witness to him by their death, and the Fathers saw in them a sign that God crowns even those whom his grace claims before they can speak or sin.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
These pages are offered with love for the saints and for all who seek them. If anything here should need correcting, we humbly beg your pardon and ask your help — kindly write to [email protected], and we will mend it as soon as we can.
Receive the coming feasts, Mass times, and reflections from our community — sent with care, never spam.