Holy Innocents

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Holy Innocents, martyrs

Racconta l’evangelista Matteo che, nato Gesù a Betlemme, alcuni Magi si presentarono dal re Erode per chiedergli dove fosse il bambino – il re dei Giudei – per poterlo adorare.

Erode, temendo di perdere il trono, ne volle sapere di più con l’intenzione di farlo assassinare. Consultò gli scribi e poi chiese ai Magi di cercarlo e di tornare a riferirgli in quale luogo si trovasse.

Ma i Magi, racconta il Vangelo, “avvertiti in sogno di non tornare da Erode, per un’altra strada fecero ritorno al loro Paese”.

And when Herod realized that the Magi had made fun of him, he became furious and - we read again - "sent to kill all the children who were in Bethlehem and in all its territory and who were two years old and under".

The small avant-garde

La Chiesa venera questi Innocenti come martiri dai primi secoli, e poiché strappati alla vita poco dopo la venuta al mondo di Cristo, ne fa memoria a ridosso del Natale.

Per volere di Pio V la celebrazione è stata elevata a festa. Prudenzio, poeta vissuto nel IV secolo, nell’inno dell’Epifania del Liber cathemerinòn li definisce “flores martyrum”, fiori dei martiri, “divelti dal persecutore di Gesù Cristo, come tanti teneri germogli”. “I bambini, senza saperlo, muoiono per Cristo, mentre i genitori piangono i martiri che muoiono. Cristo rende suoi testimoni quelli che non parlano ancora”, spiega in un sermone il vescovo San Quodvultdeus.

And he continues: “O marvelous gift of grace! What merits did these children have to win like this? They don't speak yet and they already confess Christ! They are not yet capable of facing the fight because they do not yet move their limbs, and yet they already triumphantly carry the palm of victory."

In short, the Holy Innocents are the small vanguard of the army of martyrs who have testified and continue to testify with their blood to their belonging to Christ, pure creatures who have written the first page of the long list of Christian martyrs.

The innocent victims of yesterday and today

Per la tradizione cristiana occidentale l’episodio evangelico dei Santi Innocenti Martiri è un tipico esempio di quanto la sete di potere possa spingere ad atroci delitti. I bambini di Betlemme sono infatti vittime dell’odio spietato di Erode verso chi avrebbe potuto ostacolare i suoi piani di potenza e di dominio.

Su questo tema, e sulla storia dei bambini di Betlemme, nel corso dei secoli sono state realizzate svariate opere d’arte. Nel 2016, proprio nel giorno dei Santi Martiri Innocenti, Papa Francesco ha indirizzato ai vescovi una lettera esortandoli ad “ascoltare il lamento e il pianto di tante madri, di tante famiglie, per la morte dei loro figli, dei loro figli innocenti” che è lo stesso “gemito di dolore delle madri che piangono la morte dei loro figli innocenti di fronte alla tirannia e alla sfrenata brama di potere di Erode”.

“A moan – wrote the Pontiff – that even today we can continue to listen to, which touches our soul and which we cannot and do not want to ignore or silence”.

Da queste parole, Francesco fa nascere un invito ai vescovi di tutto il mondo perché proteggano l’innocenza dei piccoli “dai nuovi Erode dei nostri giorni”, che la fagocitano e spezzano “sotto il peso del lavoro clandestino e schiavo, sotto il peso della prostituzione e dello sfruttamento. Innocenza distrutta dalle guerre e dall’emigrazione forzata”.

At the same time, the Pope also recommended listening to the tears and laments of the Church which asks for forgiveness and "cries not only in front of the pain caused to its youngest children, but also because it knows the sin of some of its members: the suffering , the history and pain of minors who were sexually abused by priests".

source © Vatican News – Dicasterium pro Communicatione

The Eastern and Western liturgical calendars all have this feast. In the liturgical year, which unfolds according to the chronological narration of the evangelical events, the story of themassacre of the innocents ha trovato la sua logica collocazione accanto al mistero del Natale.

The feast and cult of the Holy Innocents who «they confessed Christ not with the word, but with their death», reminds us that martyrdom, before being man's homage to his God, is a grace, a free gift from the Lord.

Truly, the feast of the Innocents should be celebrated after the Epiphany, because it was caused, involuntarily, by the Magi, who came from the East to adore the Child born in the stable of Bethlehem.

The Church honors this choir of children as martyrs (“infantes"Or"innocentes"), unaware victims of the suspicious and bloodthirsty King Herod, torn from their mother's arms at a very tender age to write with their blood the first page of the roll of honor of Christian martyrs and deserve eternal glory according to the promise of Jesus: «...whoever loses his life for my sake will find it». (Mt 10.39)

For them the liturgy today repeats the words of the poet Prudentius: "Greetings, oh flowers of the martyrs, who on the threshold of the morning were amused by the persecutor of Jesus, as a furious whirlwind cuts off the newly bloomed roses. You were the first victims, the tender flock sacrificed, and on the same altar you received the palm and the crown".

The episode is narrated, with the usual expressive essentiality, only in the Gospel according to Matthew, which was mainly addressed to Jewish readers and therefore intended to demonstrate the messiahship of Jesus, in whom the ancient prophecies had come true: «Herod, realizing that the Magi had made fun of him, became furious and sent to kill all the children of Bethlehem and its territory aged two and under, corresponding to the time he had been informed about by the Magi.

Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: A cry was heard in Ramah, a weeping and a great wailing; Rachele mourns her children and does not want to be consoled, because they are no longer there.» (Mt 2,16-18)

Jesus escaped the massacre because an angel warned Joseph in a dream, ordering him to flee to Egypt: the Holy Family returned to Judea only after Herod's death.

L’origine di questa festa è molto antica. Compare già nel calendario cartaginese del IV secolo e cent’anni più tardi a Roma nel Sacramentario Leoniano.

Today, with the new liturgical reform, the celebration has a joyful character and no longer one of mourning as it was at the beginning, and this is in harmony with the nice medieval customs which celebrated on this occasion the feast of "pueri” of choir and altar service.

Among the curious manifestations we remember that of making the canons come down from their stalls to the singing of the verse «Deposit powerful headquarters and exaltavit humiles». From this moment the children, clad in the insignia of the canons, directed the entire office of the day.

The new liturgy, while not wanting to accentuate the folkloristic character that this day has had throughout history, wanted to keep this celebration, elevated to the level of celebration by St. Pius V (Antonio Michele Ghislieri, 1566-1572), very close to the holiday Christmas, placing the innocent victims among the "comites Christi“, to surround the cradle of Baby Jesus with the graceful crowd of little children, dressed in the white robes of innocence, a small vanguard of the army of martyrs who will testify with their blood to their belonging to Christ.

source © gospeloftheday.org