Why, impious Herod, shouldst thou fear because the Christ is come so near? On the feast of the Holy Innocents one of our regular Dominican contributors, Fr Richard Ounsworth, reflects on the horrid reality of their murder, and what it has to teach us in a world that holds human life cheap and which disdains both the sanctity of the womb and the lives of unborn children.
In his infancy narrative, St Matthew tells us of the slaying of the infant children of Bethlehem "and its surrounding district" by Herod in a fit of rage when he realised that the Magi were not coming back to tell him where to find the Christ Child. Since the fifth century, these murdered children have been commemorated by the Church as martyrs, and I suppose two questions come to mind: did this really happen, and are they really martyrs at all?
