Red-Letter Day
Martyrs
December 28
also known as The Innocents, Holy Innocents Day, Innocents' Day, Massacre of the Innocents
The Holy Innocents commemorates the children of Bethlehem slaughtered by King Herod in his attempt to eliminate the newborn 'King of the Jews' reported by the Magi. Matthew records that Herod, 'when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under.' The feast has been observed since at least the fourth century and honors these unnamed children as the first martyrs for Christ.
Traditionally, the Holy Innocents have been venerated as the 'flowers of the martyrs' (flores martyrum)—Augustine's phrase—who testified to Christ not by speaking but by suffering and dying. They are the first martyrs in the Christian calendar, preceding Stephen the Martyr. Augustine and later theologians reflected on the paradox of innocent suffering: that these children died in ignorance, yet the Church honors them as witnesses to Christ. The liturgical color is red (for martyrdom) in most traditions, though some medieval uses employed violet to mark mourning alongside the martyr's crown.
Matthew 2:16-18 provides the sole biblical account. When the Magi failed to return to Herod with the location of the child, the king's paranoia—already legendary for its violence (Josephus records that he executed his own wife and three sons)—erupted against the children of Bethlehem. He ordered the killing of all male children aged two and under in Bethlehem and its environs, based on the timeframe established from the Magi's report of the star's appearance.
Matthew frames the slaughter as fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:15: 'A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.' This prophetic connection links the suffering of Bethlehem's mothers to the perennial suffering of Israel and, beyond Israel, to all innocent suffering in history.
The Holy Family escaped because Joseph, warned by an angel in a dream, fled to Egypt with Mary and the child. The juxtaposition is theologically stark: Christ was preserved, but other children died. The feast does not resolve this tension but holds it—the mystery of innocent suffering coexisting with God's providential care for the Son.
Bethlehem was a small village—estimates of those killed range from a handful to perhaps twenty, depending on the village's population. The significance lies not in the numbers but in the atrocity itself. Herod's documented character, as recorded by Josephus, makes the massacre entirely plausible: the king repeatedly murdered perceived threats, including members of his own family. The Church has observed this feast on December 28 since at least the late fourth century, placing it in the Christmas octave alongside Stephen (December 26) and John the Evangelist (December 27).
Almighty God, out of the mouths of children you manifest your truth, and by the death of the Holy Innocents at the hands of evil tyrants you show your strength in our weakness: We ask you to mortify all that is evil within us, and so strengthen us by your grace, that we may glorify your holy Name by the innocence of our lives and the constancy of our faith even unto death; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who died for us and now lives with you and the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.