Martyrs · Feast day December 28
The Holy Innocents
The feast day of The Holy Innocents is December 28, a feast in the US Catholic calendar.
| Feast day | December 28 |
|---|---|
| In the US calendar | Feast |
| Title | Martyrs |
| Next on Bless’s Today screen | None left in the published calendar (through December 31, 2028) |
Life
The boy children of Bethlehem, two years old and under, killed by Herod in his terror of a newborn King — the first blood shed for Christ, though they never knew his name.
Rachel wept for her children, as Jeremiah had foreseen; the Church from earliest times has counted them martyrs not in word but in deed, flowers of martyrdom cut down at the root. Their feast falls in Christmas week, a dark jewel in the octave of joy.
In the calendar
The upcoming dates, through December 31, 2028, when Bless’s Today screen shows The Holy Innocents. Where the US calendar keeps another celebration that day, it is named instead and no rank is given.
Readings
No dates are left in Bless’s published calendar, which runs through December 31, 2028. The Holy Innocents keeps December 28 in Bless’s calendar of saints: see the saints of December.
All the saints of December Born on December 28? A saint for every day
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