The Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs, and Our Holy Innocents Today
Children under the age of two in Bethlehem were massacred by Herod the Great in an attempt to kill the child Jesus. We call these Holy Innocents martyrs because they died in the place of Christ. St. Augustine called them "buds, killed by the frost of persecution the moment they showed themselves." In modern times, we have our own "holy innocents" -- those children who are killed daily in the place that should be the safest and most protective environment of all for them -- their mother's wombs. On this day, we recall the over 50 million children in our country alone (since 1973) and the vast number of children throughout the world who have been killed under the insane laws permitting abortion. Let us pray daily for an end to this tragedy and begin a novena for the protection of the unborn today. Reading Even before they learn to speak, they proclaim Christ A tiny child is born, who is a great king. Wise men are led to him from afar. They come to adore one who li...