The Feast of the Holy Innocents

Yesterday was Holy Innocents Day, the feast of the children. When Herod learned about the birth of Christ, he ordered all children less than 2 years of age killed to make sure that Jesus did not survive. The Holy Innocents were the very first saints and they died not only for Christ, but in place of Christ. We have consistently been turned off by the way the Feast of the Holy Innocents is celebrated, and to us the important thing about any feast is that it be properly commemorated.

How is the Feast of the Holy Innocents commemorated? Since Spanish times, it was celebrated with practical jokes. In short, it was the Spanish equivalent of April Fools Day. That is an insult to the Holy Innocents. No one is made conscious of the fact that the very first martyrs and saints were innocent children. What could be a greater honor than to have died in place of Christ?

If you ask us, the most important event after the Nativity was the massacre of the Holy Innocents. Yet the emphasis of the after Christmas celebration is the Epiphany, when the Magi honored Christ with gifts. Dying for Christ is a greater event than honoring Christ with gold, frankincense and myrrh. Yet, the Holy Innocents have no special celebration during the days after Christmas. It should be a Children’s Day Holyday. It showed that the innocents did more for Christ than adults.

For years now, we have been advocating that Holy Innocents Day should be dedicated to our street children. Our abandoned children are the Holy Innocents of our times. It is always a good policy to find contemporary counterparts to Biblical events. And to us the feast of the Holy Innocents is a more important feast than even All Saints Day. All Saints Day was declared a feast only that there would be a feast day for all the saints that were not involved in the calendar. And as we said, the first saints were the Holy Innocents.

The Epiphany popularly known as the Feast of the Three Kings is now a movable feast. It is commemorated on the first Sunday of January that does not fall on a New Year’s Day. This January 1st falls on a Sunday so we will have thirteen days after Christmas. I think it would have been more sensible if the Church placed more emphasis on Holy Innocents Day than the feast that traditionally marked the end of Christmastide. The Nativity is about the birth of Baby Jesus. Why has the Church up to this time not decreed any appropriate celebration for the children that were His contemporaries and who were martyred in His place?

Again, we ask all the Metro Manila Mayors to dedicate Holy Innocents Day as a day for our neglected street children. That would be a welcome addition to the days after Christmas. Let us make the Bible meaningful in our times.