The Holy Innocents (1 A.D.)

These were seventy-two little Jewish boys of two years and under who were killed by the order of King Herod the Great in his effort to get rid of Jesus, once the news of Our Lord’s birth had been made manifest. The Catholic Church calls these little boys “the flowers of the martyrs.” They were the first little innocents to die for Jesus, the beginning of the millions who would, in the history of the Catholic Church, be killed for the sake of what they were and what they believed.

See also: Merry Childermas!

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The Massacre of the Innocents (detail) by Lucas Cranach the Elder (c. 1515), National Museum in Warsaw.

The Massacre of the Innocents (detail) by Lucas Cranach the Elder (c. 1515), National Museum in Warsaw.