Originally published at National Catholic Register
That the Church honors the Holy Innocents along with St. John the Apostle and St. Stephen the first martyr in the first days after Christmas should not surprise us.
The correlation between acknowledging Jesus and suffering would one day be explicitly proclaimed by him. When Peter confesses him as “the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” Jesus’ first words are to say that the Son of Man would suffer, die and rise. When Peter seeks to divert Jesus from that path, he’s told, “Get behind me, Satan!”
To proclaim Christ, then, is to accept persecution.
Stephen did so by giving his life after testifying to Christ before the Sanhedrin. John, the only apostle not to die a martyr’s death, bore that suffering throughout his life: he alone stood under the cross with Jesus and his Mother that first Good Friday.
And the Holy Innocents, victims of Herod’s persecution, give their lives in place of Jesus. They testify to him by their blood, even if not by their voices — although one cannot deny that their death shrieks also proclaimed him.
The account of the massacre of the Holy Innocents is found in Matthew’s Gospel (2:13-18). The liturgical calendar doesn’t
