``Where the
Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be;
even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church'' Ignatius of
Antioch, 1st c. A.D
Feast of the
Holy Innocents (Childermas)
In the second
chapter of the Book of Matthew is recorded the
story of the Massacre of the Holy Innocents, an event which recalls the
Pharaoh's instructions to midwives during the time Israel was enslaved
in Egypt:
Exodus 1:15-16,
22:
And the king of Egypt spoke to the midwives of the Hebrews: of whom one
was called Sephora, the other Phua, Commanding them: When you shall do
the office of midwives to the Hebrew women, and the time of delivery is
come: if it be a man child, kill it: if a woman, keep it alive...
...Pharao therefore charged all his people, saying: Whatsoever shall be
born of the male sex, ye shall cast into the river: whatsoever of the
female, ye shall save alive.
Moses was saved
from this murder when his mother placed him in a little ark and floated
him in the river. Moses's sister watched from afar as the Pharaoh's
daughter found the child (Exodus 2). The massacre from which Moses was
spared is a type, a foreshadowing, of the massacre of the holy
innocents that took place soon after Christ was born.
As to the slaughter of the Innocents in the New Testament, first some
background: Herod the Great, the Governor of Galilee, was an Idumean
Jew whom History describes as an extremely cruel man: he was a man who
killed several of his wives and his own sons when he suspected they
were plotting against him. Challenges to his power were met with a
swift and final response, and he even tried to ensure that his cruel
campaigns survived him when he arranged that on the day he went on to
his eternal reward, hundreds of men in the area would be killed so that
there would be mourning at his funeral. Though this arrangement was
never carried out, it speaks well of Herod's nature.
And during this tyrant's reign, the Magi -- whose adoration of Baby
Jesus is rememberd on the Epiphany
(6 January) and its Eve (Twelfthnight)
-- saw the Star of Bethlehem and went to Jerusalem, asking where the
new King of Jews may be found. Herod heard of their asking around about
the newborn King and, calling the high priests to find out about this
this Child, was informed that it was prophecied that the Child would be
born in Juda.
Threatened
by this prophecy, he sent for the Magi to find the Child and report
back so he could go and "worship," too. The Magi found Jesus but,
knowing Herod's heart after having it revealed to them in a dream,
didn't go back to tell Herod of His wherabouts.
Meanwhile, the Holy Family, warned when St. Joseph was visted by
an angel in a dream, makes their flight into Egypt.
Herod became enraged at the Wise Men's "betrayal," and killed all the
baby boys in Bethlehem who were two years old and younger. This detail
from a painting by Léon Cogniet reveals the utter horror of the event:
The fourth day of Christmas commemorates these baby boys, who are
considered martyrs -- the very first martyrs (St. Stephen,
whose Feast was commemorated 2 days ago, was the first martyr of
the Church Age). As Bethlehem was a small town, the number of these
Holy Innocents was probably no more than 25, but they are glorious
martyrs who died not only for Christ, but in His place. Vestments will
be red or purple in mourning, and the Alleluia and Gloria will be
supressed at Mass. Note that the first three feasts after Christmas are
feasts of martyrs -- though martyrs of different kinds. December 26
honors St. Stephen, a martyr by will, blood, and love; December 27
honors St. John, a martyr by will and love; today, December 28, honors
the Holy Innocents, martyrs by blood alone.
Customs
First, a prayer
for the day:
Ye holy
Innocents, blest Babes, earliest martyrs of Jesus Christ, the King of
martyrs, how bright a life was won by that sharp death! Beautiful
little martyrs of the holy Child, your eyes soon closed upon the dull
mists of earth, to open upon untold glories. Bitter and short the
passage, but oh, how passing sweet the end! How sweet to have died for
Him Who came to give His life for you! Pray for me, ye stainless ones,
before the Throne, that I too, unworthy and wayward as I am, may come
to be with those who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Most Holy
Child Jesus, save Thy children.
As to customs,
the youngest child "rules the day." It is the youngest who decides the
day's foods, drinks, music, entertainments, etc. (if you have a number
of small children, you might want to divide up the honors among them).
Other than this sort of frivolity, Childermas is, according to old
English lore, a "'bad luck" day on which no big undertakings
should be attempted. Such a black day it is that whatever day of the
week Childermas falls on will be "unlucky" until next Childermas.
In Spain and Hispanic countries like Mexico, Childermas is rather like
April Fools Day is in America and France. Tricks are pulled, and the
one tricked is called "Innocente!"
rather than an "April Fool!" In many
places, it is the young who play tricks -- on their elders, whom they
often lock inside rooms and such until the oldsters pay a ransom!
To recall the blood of the martyrs, a food with a red color,
such as raspberry sauce or cherry sauce -- good served over ice cream
--
is traditional.
Raspberry
Sauce
10 oz pkg. frozen raspberries
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 c. red currant jelly
Thaw and crush raspberries. Combine with cornstarch. Add red currant
jelly and bring to boil. Cook and stir until mixture is clear and
thickens slightly. Strain and chill. Makes 1 1/3 cups. Serve over rice
pudding, ice cream, blanc mange, white chocolate mousse, etc. (If you
don't have red currant jelly, you can omit the cornstarch, too, and
just purée the berries with a TBSP or two of sugar without cooking.
Just blend well and sieve to remove seeds.).
Cherry Sauce
4 cups frozen cherries, chopped or kept whole, as you prefer
1/4 cup water
1 TBSP cornstarch
1 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP sugar
1 tsp almond extract
Put the water in a saucepan and whisk in the cornstarch, lemon juice,
and sugar. Turn heat to medium and keep stirring until the mixture is
thickened. Add the cherries and bring to a light boil, cooking for
about 10 minutes. Take off heat and stir in the almond extract.
On this day of
all days, the father of
the home should formally bless the children. A common way of doing this
is as follows:
Father:
O Lord, hear my
prayer.
All:
And let my cry
come unto Thee.
Father:
Let us pray. O
Lord Jesus Christ, once Thou embraced and placed Thy hands upon the
little children who came to Thee, and said: "Suffer the little children
to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven, and their angels always see the face of my Father!" Look now
with fatherly eyes on the innocence of these children and their
parents' devotion, and bless them this day through our prayers.
The father signs
the forehead of each child with holy water.
Father:
In Thy grace and
goodness let them advance continually, longing for Thee, loving Thee,
fearing Thee, keeping Thy commandments. Then they will surely come to
their destined home, through Thee, Savior of the world. Who lives and
reigns forever and ever.
All:
Amen.
Father:
May God bless
you. And may He keep your hearts and minds -- the Father, Son and the
Holy Spirit.
All:
Amen.
As to music, the
haunting and
lovely Coventry Carol concerns the
slaughter
of the Innocents, and is most fitting for today:
Coventry Carol
Lully, lulla, thou little
tiny child,
By by, lully lullay, thou little tiny child,
By by, lully lullay.
O sisters too,
How may we do
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling,
For whom we do sing,
By by, lully lullay?
Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child,
By by, lully lullay, thou little tiny child,
By by, lully lullay.
Herod, the King, In his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might,
In his own sight,
All young children to slay.
Lully, lulla, thou little
tiny child,
By by, lully lullay, thou little tiny child,
By by, lully lullay.
That woe is me, Poor child for thee!
And ever morn and day,
For thy parting
Nor say nor sing
By by, lully lullay!
And there is
William Byrd's "Lulla, lullaby, my sweet little baby", which Mary sings
to her Baby Son, to soothe Him as He cries over the children who were
slaughtered. Here it is sung by a group called The Sixteen:
My sweet little
Baby, what meanest Thou to cry?
Be still, my blessed Babe, though cause Thou hast to mourn,
Whose blood most innocent to shed the cruel king has sworn;
And lo, alas! behold what slaughter he doth make,
Shedding the blood of infants all, sweet Saviour, for Thy sake.
A King, a King is born, they say, which King this king would kill.
Refrain:
O woe and woeful heavy day when wretches have their will!
Lulla, la-lulla, lulla, lullaby.
Three kings this King of kings to see are come from far,
To each unknown, with offerings great, by guilding of a star;
And shepherds heard the song which angels bright did sing.
Giving all glory unto God for coming of this King,
Which must be made away — King Herod would Him kill.
Refrain
Lo, lo, my little Babe, be still, lament no more:
From fury Thou shalt step aside, help have we still instore;
We heavenly warning have some other soil to seek;
From death must fly the Lord of life, as lamb both mild and meek;
Thus must my Babe obey the king that would Him kill.
Refrain
But thou shalt live and reign, as sibyls hath foresaid,
As all the prophets prophesy, whose mother, yet a maid
And perfect virgin pure, with her breasts shall upbread
Both God and man that all hath made, the Son of heavenly seed,
Whom caitiffs none can 'tray, whom tyrants none can kill.
Refrain
While it is easy
to get lost in the nightmare of what
happened to the Innocents, it's to be remembered that they ultimately
triumphed! They are Saints of God, as this painting by William Holman
Hunt shows. The Innocents are seen with the Holy Family, in spirit,
during the Family's Flight to Egypt:
Note: A Novena to the Magi
in anticipation of the
Feast of the Epiphany is also often begun today, ending on Twelfthnight
-- 5 January,
the Vigil of the Epiphany.
Reading
From Gueranger's "Liturgical Year"
The feast of the beloved Disciple is followed by that of the
Holy Innocents. The Crib of Jesus -- where we have already met and
venerated the Prince of Martyrs and the Eagle of Patmos -- has today
standing round it a lovely choir of little Children, clad in snow-white
robes, and holding green branches in their hands. The Divine Babe
smiles upon them - he is their King; and these Innocents are smiling
upon the Church of God. Courage and Fidelity first led us to the Crib;
Innocence now comes, and bids us tarry there.
Herod intended to include the Son of God amongst the murdered Babes of
Bethlehem. The Daughters of Rachel wept over their little ones, and the
land streamed with blood; but, the Tyrant's policy can do no more:- it
cannot reach Jesus, and its whole plot ends in recruiting an immense
army of Martyrs for heaven. These Children were not capable of knowing
what an honour it was for them, to be made victims for the sake of the
Saviour of the world; but, the very first instant after their
immolation, and all was revealed to them: they had gone through this
world without knowing it, and now that they know it, they possess an
infinitely better. God showed here the riches of his mercy - he asks of
them but a momentary suffering, and that over, they wake up in
Abraham's Bosom: no further trial awaits them, they are in spotless
innocence, and the glory due to a soldier who died to save the life of
his Prince, belongs eternally to them.
They died for Jesus' sake -- therefore, their death was a real
Martyrdom, and the Church calls them by the beautiful name of The
Flowers of the Martyrs, because of their tender age and their
innocence. Justly, then, does the ecclesiastical Cycle bring them
before us today, immediately after the two valiant Champions of Christ,
Stephen and John. The connection of these three Feasts is thus
admirably explained by St. Bernard: "In St Stephen, we have both the
act and the desire of Martyrdom; in St. John, we have but the desire;
in the Holy Innocents, we have but the act. ... Will any one doubt
whether a crown was given to these Innocents?... If you ask me what
merit could they have, that God should crown them? let me ask you, what
was the fault, for which Herod slew them? What! is the mercy of Jesus
less than the cruelty of Herod? and whilst Herod could put these Babes
to death, who had done him no injury, Jesus may not crown them for
dying for Him?
"Stephen, therefore, is a Martyr, by a Martyrdom of which men can
judge, for he gave this evident proof of his sufferings being felt and
accepted, that, at the very moment of his death, his solicitude both
for his own soul and for those of his persecutors increased; the pangs
of his bodily passion were less intense than the affection of his
soul's compassion, which made him weep more for their sins than for his
own wounds. John was a Martyr, by a Martyrdom which only Angels could
see, for the proofs of his sacrifice being spiritual, only spiritual
creatures could ken them. But, the Innocents were Martyrs to none other
eye save thine, O God! Man could find no merit; Angel could find no
merit: the extraordinary prerogative of thy grace is the more boldly
brought out. From the mouth of the Infants and the Sucklings thou hast
perfected praise. [Ps. viii. 3.] The praise the Angels give thee, is:
Glory be to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of good will:
[St. Luke, ii. 14.] it is a magnificent praise, but I make bold to say,
that it is not perfect, till He cometh who will say: 'Suffer Little
Children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven;' [St
Matth. xix. 14.] and in the mystery of my mercy, there shall be peace
to men that cannot even use their will." (Sermon for the Feast of the
Holy Innocents.)
Yes, God did for these Innocents, who were immolated on his Son's
account, what he is doing every moment now by the sacrament of
regeneration, in the case of children, who die before coming to the use
of reason. We, who have been baptised by water, should be all the more
ready to honour these Little Ones, who were baptised in their own
blood, and thereby associated to all the mysteries of the Divine
Infancy. We ought, together with the Church, to congratulate them, for
that a glorious and premature death secured them their innocence. They
have lived upon our earth, and yet it defiled them not! Truly, these
tender Lambs deserve to be for ever with the Lamb of God! May this same
earth of ours, grown old in wickedness, draw down the divine mercy on
itself, by the love and honour it gives, each year, to these sweet
Children of Bethlehem, who, like the Dove of Noah's Ark, could not find
whereon to rest their feet.
In the midst of the joy, which, at this holy time, fills both heaven
and earth, the Holy Church of Rome forgets not the lamentations of the
Mothers, who beheld their Children cruelly butchered by Herod's
soldiers. She hears the wailing of Rachel, and condoles with her; and,
unless it be a Sunday, she suspends on this Feast some of the
manifestations of the joy, which inundates her soul during the Octave
of her Jesus' Birth. The Red Vestments of a Martyr's Day would be too
expressive of that stream of infant blood which forbids the Mothers to
be comforted, and joyous White would ill suit their poignant grief;
she, therefore, vests in Purple, the symbol of mournfulness. [Unless it
be a Sunday; in which case, the colour used is Red.] The Gloria in
excelsis, the Hymn she loves so passionately during these days, when
Angels come down from heaven to sing it - even that must be hushed
today: and, in the Holy Sacrifice, she sings no Alleluia. In this, as
in everything she does, the Church acts with an exquisite delicacy of
feeling. Her Liturgy is a school of refined Christian considerateness.
This expression of sympathy gives today's Office a pathetic sadness,
which, however, in no ways interferes with the joy, which the Church
feels in celebrating the Feast of the Holy Innocents. She keeps it with
an Octave, as she does the two preceding Feasts of St. Stephen and St.
John. She sanctions the practice, observed in Cathedral and Collegiate
Churches, of allowing young boys to share in the duties of the Choir,
and blend their innocent chanting with that of the Ministers of God.
She grants them several privileges, and takes pleasure in seeing the
delight wherewith these children perform the several functions
entrusted to them. This joy, this simplicity, this innocence, all add a
charm to the divine Service; and through these youthful Choristers, the
Church pays honour to the Infant Jesus, and to the Holy Innocents of
Bethlehem.
In Rome, the Station for the Feast of St. Stephen is in the Church
dedicated to the holy Protomartyr, on Monte Celio; that for St. John is
in the Basilica of St. Mary Major; today, the Station is made at St.
Paul's beyond the Walls, which possessed several of the bodies of the
Holy Innocents. In the 16th century, Pope Xystus the Fifth caused a
portion of these Relics to be translated to St Mary Major's, and put
near the holy Relic of our Lord's Crib.