Massacre of the Innocents

{{Short description|Narrative from Christian Bible}} {{For|paintings of this event|Massacre of the Innocents (disambiguation)}} {{Redirect|Holy Innocents|churches dedicated to this group|Holy Innocents Church (disambiguation){{!}}Holy Innocents Church}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox saint | honorific_prefix= Saints | name = Holy Innocents | image = 0 La Vierge à l'Enfant entourée des saints Innocents - Louvre - (2).JPG | alt= | caption = ''The Virgin and Child Surrounded by the Holy Innocents'' by Peter Paul Rubens | titles = First Martyrs | birth_date = Various, presumably close to the birth of Jesus | birth_place = Bethlehem, Herodian Kingdom of Judea, Roman Empire | death_date = {{c.|7–2 BC}} | death_place = Bethlehem, Herodian Kingdom of Judea, Roman Empire (martyred by King Herod the Great) | death_cause = Infanticide | venerated_in = {{plainlist| *Catholic Church *Eastern Orthodoxy *Oriental Orthodoxy *Lutheranism *Anglicanism }} | beatified_date= | beatified_place= | beatified_by= | canonized_date= Pre-Congregation | canonized_place= | canonized_by= | major_shrine= | feast_day = {{plainlist| * 27 December (West Syriac) * 28 December (Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, Anglican Communion) * 29 December (Eastern Orthodoxy) * 10 January (East Syriac) }} | attributes = {{ubl|Martyr's palm|Crown of martyrdom}} | patronage ={{plainlist| *Foundlings *Babies *Children's choirs<ref name=catholic.org /> }} | issues= | suppressed_date= | suppressed_by= | influences= | influenced= | tradition= | major_works= }} {{Gospel Jesus|Early life}}

The '''Massacre''' (or '''Slaughter''') '''of the Innocents''' is a story recounted in the Nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew (2:16–18) in which Herod the Great, king of Judea, orders the execution of all male children who are two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem.<ref name="myths">{{cite book |last=Litwa |first=M. David |title=How the Gospels Became History{{snd}}Jesus and Mediterranean Myths |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2019 |isbn=9780300249484 |pages=118–120 |chapter=Chapter 8: Child in Danger, Child of Wonder}}</ref> It is modeled by the story of Pharaoh's attempt to kill the Israelite children in the Book of Exodus, as told in an expanded version that was current in the 1st century.{{sfn|Lincoln|2013|p=44}} Most scholars find no support for the historicity of Matthew’s account of the Massacre of the Innocents.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carter |first=Warren |url=https://doi.org/10.5771/9781978714113 |title=The Massacre of the Innocents |date=2023 |publisher=Lexington Books/Fortress Academic |isbn=978-1-9787-1411-3 |page=11 fn. 2, 287 fn. 2 |quote=2. That it is not an historical event is the general scholarly consensus. For an unconvincing defense of its historicity, R. T. France, "Herod and the Children of Bethlehem," NovT 21 (1979) 98-120. [...] First, it assumes the historicity of the Matthean Massacre even though most scholars find no support for its historicity.}}</ref>

The '''Feast of the Holy Innocents''', also known as '''Childermas''', is celebrated in the Western Christian Churches on 28 December, the fourth day of Christmastide. In Eastern Christianity, the feast is celebrated on various dates, depending on the denomination.<ref name="Crump2022"/>

==Biblical narrative== The Gospel of Matthew tells how the Magi visit Jerusalem to seek guidance as to where the king of the Jews has been born; King Herod directs them to Bethlehem and asks them to return to him and report, but they are warned in a dream that Herod wishes to find the child and kill him, and do not do so. Matthew continues:

{{blockquote|When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.|Matthew 2:16<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew|2:16}}</ref>}}

This is followed by a reference to and quotation from the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:15) (Jeremiah 31:14 in the Hebrew Bible): "Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." (Matthew 2:17–18). The relevance of this to the massacre is not immediately apparent, as Jeremiah's next verses go on to speak of hope and restoration.{{sfn|Clarke|2003|p=23}}

==Historicity and theology== {{See also|Nativity of Jesus#Historical analysis}}

The historicity of the Matthew account is not accepted by most modern scholars.<ref name="George">{{cite book | last=George | first=Arthur | title=The Mythology of America's Seasonal Holidays: The Dance of the Horae | publisher=Springer International Publishing | year=2020 | isbn=978-3-030-46916-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jF70DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA218 | access-date=2024-06-24 | page=218}}</ref><ref name="myths" />{{sfn|Magness|2021|p=126}} The story of the massacre is found in no gospel other than Matthew, nor is it mentioned in the surviving works of Nicolaus of Damascus (who was a personal friend of Herod the Great), nor in Josephus's ''Antiquities of the Jews'', despite his recording many of Herod's misdeeds, including the murder of three of his own sons.{{sfn|Clarke|2003|p=22}}

The early 5th-century account of Macrobius—that "on hearing that the son of Herod, king of the Jews, had been slain when Herod ordered that all boys in Syria under the age of two be killed, [Augustus] said, 'It's better to be Herod's pig than his son'"—has been discounted as extra-biblical evidence for the event due to its later authorship, possible influence of the gospel narrative, and the confused nature of the account.{{sfn|Maier|1998|p=187}}

In view of the lack of independent confirmation that the event occurred, the story serves as a kind of folklore inspired by Herod's reputation.{{sfn|Magness|2021|p=126}} Many view the discussion of historicity as secondary, given that gospels were primarily written as theological documents rather than chronological timelines.<ref name="Wiarda75">''Interpreting Gospel Narratives: Scenes, ''People'', and Theology'' by Timothy Wiarda 2010 {{ISBN|0-8054-4843-8}} pp. 75–78</ref><ref name="Jesus p. 89">''Jesus, the Christ: Contemporary Perspectives'' by Brennan R. Hill 2004 {{ISBN|1-58595-303-2}} p. 89</ref><ref name="Luke' p. 72">''The Gospel of Luke'' by Timothy Johnson 1992 {{ISBN|0-8146-5805-9}} p. 72</ref><ref name="Recovering Jesus p. 111">''Recovering Jesus: the witness of the New Testament'' Thomas R. Yoder Neufeld 2007 {{ISBN|1-58743-202-1}} p. 111</ref>

The author appears to have modeled the episode on the biblical story of Pharaoh's attempt to kill the Israelite children in the Book of Exodus, as told in an expanded version that was current in the 1st century.{{sfn|Lincoln|2013|p=44}} In that expanded story, Pharaoh kills the Hebrew children after his scribes warn him of the impending birth of the threat to his crown (i.e., Moses), but Moses' father and mother are warned in a dream that the child's life is in danger and act to save him.{{sfn|Brown|1978|p=11}} Later in life, after Moses has to flee, like Jesus, he returns when those who sought his death are themselves dead.{{sfn|Brown|1978|p=11}}

Paul L. Maier{{sfn|Maier|1998|p=189}} and Anglican scholar Richard T. France<ref name="France">{{Cite journal |last=France |first=Richard T. |date=1979 |title=Herod and the Children of Bethlehem |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1560717 |journal=Novum Testamentum |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=114–119 |doi=10.2307/1560717 |jstor=1560717 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> have offered arguments in favour of the historicity of the account, though these arguments are not accepted by most scholars.{{sfn|Park|2013|p=473}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carter |first=Warren |url=https://doi.org/10.5771/9781978714113 |title=The Massacre of the Innocents |date=2023 |publisher=Lexington Books/Fortress Academic |isbn=978-1-9787-1411-3 | page=11 fn. 2, 287 fn. 2 | quote=2. That it is not an historical event is the general scholarly consensus. For an unconvincing defense of its historicity, R. T. France, "Herod and the Children of Bethlehem," NovT 21 (1979) 98-120. [...] First, it assumes the historicity of the Matthean Massacre even though most scholars find no support for its historicity.}}</ref> James Dunn views the massacre story as being an action in line with Herod's known character.<ref>{{cite book|last= Dunn |first= James |author-link= James Dunn (theologian)|year= 2017 |title= Who Was Jesus? (Little Books of Guidance) |publisher= Church Publishing |page= 9 |isbn= 978-0898692488}}</ref> Joan E. Taylor and Anthony Le Donne observe that Herod was a vindictive and harsh ruler, and it was common for Jews at the time to face becoming refugees, frequently in Egypt.<ref>{{cite book |last=Le Donne |first=Anthony |title=Jesus: A Beginner's Guide |publisher=Oneworld Publications |year=2018 |isbn=978-1786071446 |page=246}}</ref> Taylor argues that the Historical Jesus could indeed have been a refugee whose background shaped his teachings.<ref>{{cite web |last=Taylor |first=Joan |date=2015-09-07 |title=Jesus was a Refugee |url=https://historicaljesusresearch.blogspot.com/2015/09/jesus-was-refugee.html |access-date=2026-01-18 |website=historicaljesusresearch.blogspot.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Numbers== The Byzantine Rite liturgy asserts 14,000 Holy Innocents, while an early Syrian list of saints asserts 64,000. Coptic sources assert 144,000 and that it took place on 29 December.{{sfn|Mina|1907|pp=300-}} Frederick George Holweck's 1910 entry on the subject in the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' referenced estimates that both assumed the event actually occurred and recognized that Bethlehem was too small a town to provide such numbers, reducing the victims to between 6 and 20 children in the town.{{efn|{{harvnb|Holweck|1910}} states "The Greek Liturgy asserts that Herod killed 14,000 boys ({{transliteration|el|ton hagion id chiliadon Nepion}}), the Syrians speak of 64,000, many medieval authors of 144,000, according to Apocalypse 14:3. Writers who accept the historicity of the episode reduce the number considerably, since Bethlehem was a rather small town. Joseph Knabenbauer brings it down to fifteen or twenty (''Evang. S. Matt.'', I, 104), August Bisping to ten or twelve (''Evang. S. Matt.''), Lorenz Kellner to about six ({{lang|de|Christus und seine Apostel}}, Freiburg, 1908)".}} France, citing estimates that Bethlehem's population would have been around 1,000 people at the time the event was supposed to occur, concurred with an upper limit of around 20 children killed if it was indeed a historical event.<ref name=France/>

==In Christian art== Medieval liturgical drama recounted Biblical events, including Herod's slaughter of the innocents. ''The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors'', performed in Coventry, England, included a haunting song about the episode now known as the Coventry Carol. The ''Ordo Rachelis'' tradition of four plays includes the Flight into Egypt, Herod's succession by Archelaus, the return from Egypt, as well as the Massacre, all centered on Rachel weeping in fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy. These events were likewise in one of the medieval N-Town Plays.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

The "Coventry Carol" is a Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called ''The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors''. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew. The carol refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants two years old and under in Bethlehem to be killed.<ref name=covcar/> The lyrics of this haunting carol represent a mother's lament for her doomed child. The author is unknown. The oldest known text was written down by Robert Croo in 1534, and the melody dates from 1591.{{sfn|Studwell|1995|p=15}} The carol is traditionally sung a cappella.{{fact|date=September 2023}}

The 17th century Dutch Christmas song ''O Kerstnacht, schoner dan de dagen'', while beginning with a reference to Christmas Night, is about the Massacre of the Innocents. In 1974, the Dutch progressive rock band Focus recorded the first two verses of the song for their album ''Hamburger Concerto''.{{fact|date=September 2023}} [[File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Massacre of the Innocents - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Pieter Brueghel the Elder, ''Massacre of the Innocents'']] The subject of the "Massacre of the Innocents" has provided artists of many nationalities with opportunities to compose complicated depictions of massed bodies in violent action. It was an alternative to the ''Flight into Egypt'' in cycles of the Life of the Virgin. It decreased in popularity in Gothic art, but revived in the larger works of the Renaissance, when artists took inspiration for their "Massacres" from Roman reliefs of the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs to the extent that they showed the figures heroically nude.<ref name=Getty>{{cite web |url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103R7S |title=Getty Collection |publisher=www.getty.edu |date=7 May 2009 |access-date=2026-01-18}}</ref> The horrific subject matter of the Massacre of the Innocents also provided a comparison of ancient brutalities with the brutalities of the early modern period, during the period of religious wars that followed the Reformation{{snd}} Bruegel's versions show the soldiers carrying banners with the Habsburg double-headed eagle.<ref>[https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2005/old-master-paintings-evening-sale-l05033/lot.23.html A winter landscape with the Massacre of the Innocents, Sotheby's, 7 December 2005]</ref>

The 1590 version by Cornelis van Haarlem also seems to reflect the violence of the Dutch Revolt and does not depict the mothers merely as passive victims but also as enacting revenge on one of the murderers. Guido Reni's early (1611) ''Massacre of the Innocents'', in an unusual vertical format, is at Bologna.<ref name=WGA>{{cite web |url=https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r/reni/1/innocent.html |title=Reni's painting at the Web Gallery of Art |publisher=www.wga.hu |access-date=2026-01-18}}</ref> The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens painted the theme more than once. One version, now in Munich, was engraved and reproduced as a painting as far away as colonial Peru.<ref name=Peru>The ''Massacre of the Innocents'' in Cuzco Cathedral is clearly influenced by Rubens. See ''[https://www.codart.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/courant7.pdf CODART Courant]'', December 2003, 12. (2.5 MB pdf download)</ref>

===Paintings=== [[File:Rubens - Massacre of the Innocents - Art Gallery of Ontario 2.jpg|thumb|Rubens, ''Massacre of the Innocents'', 1610–11, Toronto]]

* ''Massacre of the Innocents'' by the Bruegels. Several versions of ''The Massacre of the Innocents'' were painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1565–67) and his son Pieter Brueghel the Younger (into the 17th century). * ''Massacre of the Innocents'' by Guido Reni, created in 1611 for the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna, but now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in that city * Two versions by Peter Paul Rubens, painted in 1611–1612 and 1636–1638 * ''The Massacre of the Innocents'' by Nicolas Poussin, painted between 1625 and 1632 * ''Massacre of the Innocents'' by Matteo di Giovanni<ref>Touring Club Italiano, Museo di Capodimonte, Milano, Touring Club Editore, 2012. {{ISBN|978-88-365-2577-5}}</ref>

===Music=== The communion motet for the Feast of the Holy Innocents is the text from Matthew 2:18 (citing Jeremiah 31:15) ''Vox in Rama''. This was set polyphonically by a number of composers of the renaissance and baroque, including Jacob Clemens non Papa, Giaches de Wert, and Heinrich Schütz (in German).

Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed an oratorio, {{lang|la|Caedes sanctorum innocentium}}, H.411, for soloists, chorus, two violins, and continuo (1683–1685).

==Feast day==

===Dates by denomination=== Today, the date of '''Holy Innocents' Day''', also called the '''Feast of the Holy Innocents''', or '''Childermas''' or '''Children's Mass''',{{clarify|reason=Which name is used by which denomination? What do the Orthodox use?|date=December 2022}} varies. * 27 December for West Syrians (Syriac Orthodox Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and Maronite Church) * 28 December in the Church of England (Festival),<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|access-date=10 April 2021|website=The Church of England|language=en}}</ref> the Lutheran Church, and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, with these Western Christian denominations celebrating Childermas as the fourth day of Christmastide<ref>{{cite web |title=Day Four: December 28, Feast of the Holy Innocents |publisher=Catholic Culture |url=http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/seasons/christmas/Christmas_days4.cfm |access-date=2017-06-25 |archive-date=25 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625105927/http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/seasons/christmas/Christmas_days4.cfm |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> * 29 December for the Eastern Orthodox Church<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oca.org/saints/id/lives/103682 |title=14,000 Infants (the Holy Innocents) slain by Herod at Bethlehem |website=www.oca.org}}</ref>

===Beginnings=== The commemoration of the massacre of the Holy Innocents, traditionally regarded as the first Christian martyrs, if unknowingly so,{{sfn|Smith|Cheetham|1875|pp=839–}}{{efn|Irenaeus (''Adv. Haer.'' iii.16.4) and Cyprian (''Epistle'' 56)}} first appears as a feast of the Western church in the Leonine Sacramentary, dating from about 485. The earliest commemorations{{clarify|reason=Whose? Entire early Christianity, early Western, early Eastern Orthodox use? Once clarified: pls. adapt the section heading accordingly.|date=December 2022}} were connected with the Feast of the Epiphany, 6 January: Prudentius mentions the Innocents in his hymn on the Epiphany. Leo in his homilies on the Epiphany speaks of the Innocents. Fulgentius of Ruspe (6th century) gives a homily {{lang|la|De Epiphania, deque Innocentum nece et muneribus magorum}} ("On Epiphany, and on the murder of the Innocents and the gifts of the Magi").{{efn|Prudentius, Leo, and Fulgentius are noted in {{harvnb|Smith|Cheetham|1875|pp=839ff.}}}}

===Catholic medieval traditions=== From the time of Charlemagne, Sicarius of Bethlehem was venerated at Brantôme, Dordogne as one of the purported victims of the Massacre.{{sfn|Wasyliw|2008|p=46}} [[File:Matteo di Giovanni 002.jpg|thumb|''Massacre of the Innocents'', Matteo di Giovanni, c. 1500]]

In the Middle Ages, especially north of the Alps, the day was a festival of inversion involving role reversal between children and adults such as teachers and priests, with boy bishops presiding over some church services.{{sfn|Holweck|1910}} Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens suggest that this was a Christianized version of the Roman annual feast of the Saturnalia (when even slaves played "masters" for a day). In some regions, such as medieval England and France, it was said to be an unlucky day when no new project should be started.{{sfn|Blackburn|Holford-Strevens|1999|pp=537–538}}

There was a medieval custom of refraining where possible from work on the day of the week on which the feast of "Innocents Day" had fallen for the whole of the following year until the next Innocents Day. Philippe de Commynes, the minister of King Louis XI of France, tells in his memoirs how the king observed this custom, and describes the trepidation he felt when he had to inform the king of an emergency on the day.{{sfn|de Commynes|1972|pp=253–254}}

===Contemporary traditions in Western Christianity=== In denominations of Western Christianity, such as Catholicism and Lutheranism, some Christians attend Mass on Childermas to remember the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents.<ref name="Crump2022">{{cite book |last1=Crump |first1=William D. |title=The Christmas Encyclopedia |edition=4th |date=2022 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-8790-2 |language=en |page=263}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Feast of the Holy Innocents |url=https://www.lcmmadison.org/2020/12/28/feast-of-the-holy-innocents/ |publisher=Lutheran Campus Ministry|location=Madison, Wisconsin|access-date=29 December 2023 |language=English |date=28 December 2020}}</ref>

In England, the memorial is referred to as Childermas or Children's Mass in which "Children are given a blessing; they sing in the choir and take on other special roles in the church service."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pennoyer |first1=Greg |last2=Bevis |first2=Beth |title=God With Us: God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas |date=1 September 2015 |edition=Reader's |publisher=Paraclete Press |isbn=978-1-61261-819-7 |language=en}}</ref>

In Spain, Hispanic America, and the Philippines,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Erichsen|first=Gerald|date=11 May 2019|title=Equivalent of April Fools’ Day Celebrated in December|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/spains-equivalent-of-april-fools-day-3971893|access-date=30 March 2021|website=ThoughtCo|language=en}}</ref> 28 December is called Day of the Holy Innocents and is a day for pranks, equivalent to April Fool's Day in many countries. Pranks ({{lang|es|bromas}}) are also known as {{lang|es|inocentadas}} and their victims are called {{lang|es|inocentes}}; alternatively, the pranksters are the {{lang|es|inocentes}} and the victims should not be angry at them, since they could not have committed any sin. One of the more famous of these traditions is the annual "Els Enfarinats" festival of Ibi in Alacant, where the {{lang|es|inocentes}} dress up in full military dress and incite a flour fight.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-12087635 BBC News] report of the 2010 festival.</ref>

In Trinidad and Tobago, Catholic children have their toys blessed at a Mass.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archives.newsday.co.tt/2013/12/30/feast-of-holy-innocents |title='Feast of Holy Innocents', ''Trinity and Tobago Newsday'' |publisher=archives.newsday.co.tt |date=2013-12-30 |access-date=2026-01-18}}</ref>

===Roman Rite before and after 1955=== In the Roman Rite prior to 1955, a unique feature of this feast was the use of liturgical elements ordinarily ascribed to penitential days—including violet vestments, the omission of the Gloria, and the substitution of a Tract in place of the Alleluia—unless the feast fell on Sunday, in which case the rubrics required the feast to be celebrated as on its octave day, with red vestments, Gloria, and Alleluia. The octave of this feast was suppressed by Pope Pius XII in 1955, with the feast now celebrated using the features formerly ascribed to its octave day, a practice reinforced by the 1960 Code of Rubrics.

==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed" heights="165" style="line-height:130%"> File:BnF MS Gr510 folio 137 recto - detail - Herod orders the Massacre of the Innocents; the Flight of Elizabeth; the martyrdom of Zachariah.jpg|Herod orders the Massacre of the Innocents; the Flight of Elizabeth; the martyrdom of Zachariah (illumination from a 9th-century manuscript) File:Kerald (Meister des Codex Egberti) 001.jpg|10th-century German illumination from the Codex Egberti, a devotional book of the Reichenau school File:Giotto di Bondone - No. 21 Scenes from the Life of Christ - 5. Massacre of the Innocents - .jpg|Giotto, ''Massacre of the Innocents'' File:Nürnberg St. Lorenz Dreikönigsaltar Kindermord 01.jpg|Panel from Dreikönigsaltar by Hans Pleydenwurff 1460-1465 File:Cornelis van Haarlem - Bethlehemse kindermoord.jpg|Cornelis van Haarlem, ''Massacre of the Innocents'', 1590, Rijksmuseum File:Guido Reni - Massacre of the Innocents.jpg|Guido Reni, ''Massacre of the Innocents'' File:Jacopo Tintoretto - The Massacre of the Innocents - WGA22591.jpg|Jacopo Tintoretto, ''Massacre of the Innocents'' File:1824 Navez Das Massaker der Unschuldigen anagoria.JPG|François-Joseph Navez, ''The massacre of the innocents'', 1824 File:William Holman Hunt - The Triumph of the Innocents - Google Art Project.jpg|''Triumph of the Innocents'' by William Holman Hunt File:Faroe stamp 405 the scream form ramah.jpg|''The scream from Ramah'', 2001 stamp of the Faroe Islands File:L%C3%A9on_Cogniet_-_Massacre_of_the_Innocents.jpg|Léon Cogniet, ''Massacre of the Innocents'', 1824 </gallery>

==Notes== {{Wikiquote}} {{Notelist}}

==References== ===Citations === {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=catholic.org>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholic.org/saints/patron.php |title=Patron Saints A-Z |website=www.catholic.org}}</ref> <ref name=covcar>{{cite web |url=https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/coventry_carol-1.htm |title=The Coventry Carol |quote=The version from Bramley and Stainer (1878)}}</ref> }}

===Sources=== {{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}

*{{cite book|last1=Blackburn|first1=Bonnie J. |last2=Holford-Strevens|first2=Leofranc |title=The Oxford Companion to the Year|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ApWLQgAACAAJ&pg=PA537|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-214231-3}} * {{cite book|last=Brown|first=Raymond Edward |title=An Adult Christ at Christmas: Essays on the Three Biblical Christmas Stories|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Co8Mh-GliPIC&pg=PA10|year=1978|publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=978-0-8146-0997-2}} * {{cite book|last=Clarke|first=Howard |title=The Gospel of Matthew and Its Readers: A Historical Introduction to the First Gospel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BB70m7EVPkC|year=2003|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0-253-11061-0}} *{{cite book|last=de Commynes|first=Philippe |author-link=Philippe de Commynes|title=Memoirs: The Reign of Louis XI, 1461-83|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LrkMAQAAMAAJ|year=1972|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-044264-9}} * {{Cite book |last=Ferguson |first=Everett |year=2003 |title=Backgrounds of Early Christianity |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tuKkxU4-ncC |isbn=978-0-8028-2221-5}} * {{Cite book |last=France |first=R. T. |year=2007 |title=The Gospel of Matthew |publisher=Eerdmans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ruP6J_XPCEC&pg=PA83 |isbn=978-0-8028-2501-8}} * {{cite book |last=Grant |first=Michael |year=1971 |title=Herod the Great |publisher=American Heritage Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWGFAAAAIAAJ&q=myth |isbn=978-0-07-024073-5}} * {{Cite book |last=Harrington |first=Daniel |year=1991 |title=The Gospel of Matthew |publisher=Liturgical Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bNf13S3k2w0C |isbn=978-0-8146-5803-1}} *{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Holy Innocents|first=Frederick George |last=Holweck|volume=7}} *{{cite book |author=James |translator-last=Walker |translator-first=Alexander |year=2019 |title=The Protoevangelium of James: Greek and English Texts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lDq-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |publisher=Dalcassian|isbn=978-1960069023}} * {{Cite book |last=Lincoln |first=Andrew |year=2013 |title=Born of a Virgin?: Reconceiving Jesus in the Bible, Tradition, and Theology |publisher=Eerdmans |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=deNgAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 |isbn=978-0-8028-6925-8}} * {{cite book | last=Magness | first=Jodi | title=Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=2021 | isbn=978-0-691-21677-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KR4OEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA126 | page=126}} * {{Cite book |last=Maier |first=Paul L. |author-link=Paul L. Maier |year=1998 |chapter=Herod and the Infants of Bethlehem |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mWnYvI5RdLMC&q=Herod+and+the+Infants+of+Bethlehem&pg=PA169 |editor1-last=Summers |editor1-first=Ray |editor2-last=Vardaman |editor2-first=Jerry |title=Chronos, Kairos, Christos II: Chronological, Nativity, and Religious Studies in Memory of Ray Summers |publisher=Mercer University Press |isbn=978-0-86554-582-3}} *{{cite book |last=Mina |first= évêque de Pchati |translator-last=Porcher |translator-first=E. |date=1907 |chapter=Histoire d'Isaac, patriarche Jacobite d'Alexandrie de 686 à 689 |title=Patrologia orientalis |url=https://archive.org/details/patrologiaorient11pariuoft |volume=11|publisher= Paris Firmin-Didot}} *{{Cite journal |title=Rachel's Cry for Her Children: Matthew's Treatment of the Infanticide by Herod |journal=The Catholic Biblical Quarterly |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43728232 |last=Park |first=Eugene Eung-Chun |issue=3 |volume=75 |pages=473–485 |year=2013 |issn=0008-7912 |jstor=43728232}} *{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofchri01smit/page/549 |title=A dictionary of Christian antiquities: Comprising the History, Institutions, and Antiquities of the Christian Church, from the Time of the Apostles to the Age of Charlemagne|editor-first1=William|editor-last1=Smith|editor1-link=William Smith (lexicographer)|editor-first2=Samuel |editor-last2=Cheetham |editor2-link=Samuel Cheetham (priest) |publisher=J. Murray|year=1875|volume=11}} *{{cite book|last=Studwell|first=William Emmett |title=The Christmas Carol Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfTZAAAAMAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Haworth |isbn=978-1-56023-872-0}} * {{Cite book |last=Vermes |first=Geza |year=2006 |title=The Nativity: History and Legend |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J00OOo-3RqEC |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=978-0-14-191261-5}} *{{cite book |last=Wasyliw |first=Patricia Healy |year=2008 |title=Martyrdom, Murder, and Magic: Child Saints and Their Cults in Medieval Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-1HS5gCZ1w4C&pg=PA46 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-0-8204-2764-5}} {{refend}}

{{s-start}} {{s-hou|Life of Jesus|||}} {{s-bef|before=Flight into Egypt}} {{s-ttl|title=New Testament<br />Events}} {{s-aft|after=Death of Herod,<br />Return of young Jesus to Nazareth}} {{s-end}}

{{Gospel of Matthew}} {{Christmas}} {{Life of Jesus in Christian art}} {{Catholic saints - martyrs|state=collapsed}} {{Coptic saints}}

Category:1st-century BC Christian saints Category:Christianity in Bethlehem Category:Christian child saints Category:Christian iconography Category:Christian mythology Category:Christian saints from the New Testament Category:Christmastide Category:December observances Category:Gospel of Matthew Category:Herod the Great Category:Infanticide Category:Massacre of the Innocents Category:Massacres in the Bible Category:Matthew 2 Category:Nativity of Jesus in the New Testament Category:Saints' days Category:Anglican saints