Did They Kill Babies When Looking for Jesus

Narrative from chapter 2 of Matthew

"Holy Innocents" redirects hither. For churches dedicated to this group, see Holy Innocents Church building.

Holy Innocents
The Virgin and Child Surrounded by the Holy Innocents painted past Peter Paul Rubens at the Museum of Louvre-Lens, circa 1618.
First Martyrs
Born	Various, presumably close to the birth of Jesus Bethlehem, Judea
Died	c. 7–2 BC Bethlehem, Judea (martyred by King Herod the Slap-up)
Venerated in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy Lutheran Church Anglican Church
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Banquet	27 December (W Syrians) 28 December (Catholic Church, Lutheran Church building, Anglican Communion) 29 Dec (Eastern Orthodoxy) 10 January (East Syrians)
Attributes	Martyr's palm Crown of martyrdom
Patronage	Foundlings Babies Children'due south choirs[ane]

The Massacre of the Innocents is the incident in the nascence narrative of the Gospel of Matthew (2:sixteen–18) in which Herod the Great, male monarch of Judea, orders the execution of all male children two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem. The Catholic Church regards them every bit the first Christian martyrs, and their feast – Holy Innocents' Day (or the Banquet of the Holy Innocents) – is celebrated on 28 December.^[2] A majority of Herod biographers, and "probably a majority of biblical scholars," hold the event to be myth, legend, or folklore.^[iii]

Biblical narrative [edit]

The Magi visit Jerusalem to seek guidance as to where the rex of the Jews has been born; Rex Herod directs them to Bethlehem and asks them to return to him and written report, but they are warned in a dream and do non exercise so. The massacre is reported in Gospel of Matthew:

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 erstwhile and nether, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

This is followed by a reference to and quotation from the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:xv): "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 exist comforted, because they are no more." (Matthew two:17-xviii). The relevance of this to the massacre is non immediately credible, every bit Jeremiah's side by side verses get on to speak of hope and restoration.^[4]

History and theology [edit]

The story of the massacre is plant in no gospel other than Matthew, nor in the surviving works of Nicolaus of Damascus (who was a personal friend of Herod the Bully) and the historian Josephus makes no mention of it in his Antiquities of the Jews, despite recording many of Herod's misdeeds including the murder of three of his own sons.^[two] A majority of Herod biographers, and "probably a majority of biblical scholars," accordingly hold the event to be myth, legend or sociology inspired by Herod's reputation.^{[3] [5]}

The author appears to have modelled 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 current in the 1st century.^[6] 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 female parent are warned in a dream that the child's life is in danger and act to save him.^[seven] Later on in life, subsequently Moses has to flee, similar Jesus, he returns when those who sought his death are themselves dead.^[7] The story of the massacre of the innocents thus plays a office in Matthew's wider nascence story, in which the proclamation of the coming of the Messiah (his nascency) is followed past his rejection by the Jews (Herod and his scribes and the people of Jerusalem) and his afterwards acceptance past the gentiles (the Magi).^[8]

Against this majority opinion some argue for the historicity of the event. R. T. France, while acknowledging that the massacre is "mayhap the aspect [of Matthew'south infancy narrative] most oft rejected as legendary" ^[ix] and that the story is like to that of Moses, believes that it would not accept arisen without historical basis.^[10] Everett Ferguson argues that the story makes sense in the context of Herod'southward reign of terror in the concluding few years of his dominion,^[11] and the number of infants in Bethlehem that would have been killed – no more a dozen or so – may accept been too insignificant to be recorded by Josephus, who could not be aware of every incident far in the by when he wrote information technology.^[12]

Numbers [edit]

Byzantine liturgy estimated xiv,000 Holy Innocents, while an early Syrian list of saints put the number at 64,000. Coptic sources raised this to 144,000 and placed the upshot on 29 December.^[13] The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907–12) suggested that probably only between half dozen and twenty children were killed in the boondocks, with a dozen or and so more than in the surrounding areas.^[a]

In Christian art [edit]

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 every bit the Coventry Carol. The Ordo Rachelis tradition of four plays includes the Flight into Egypt, Herod'south succession by Archelaus, the render from Arab republic of egypt, as well as the Massacre all centred on Rachel weeping in fulfillment of Jeremiah'due south prophecy. These events were likewise in one of the medieval Northward-Town Plays.^{[ citation needed ]}

The "Coventry Carol" is a Christmas ballad dating from the 16th century. The carol was performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play chosen The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter 2 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.^[14] The lyrics of this haunting ballad represent a mother's lament for her doomed child. It is the merely carol that has survived from this play. The author is unknown. The oldest known text was written downwardly by Robert Croo in 1534, and the oldest known printing of the melody dates from 1591.^[xv] The carol is traditionally sung a cappella.

The 17th Century Dutch Christmas song O Kerstnacht, schoner dan de dagen, while outset with a reference to Christmas Night, is about the Massacre of the Innocents. The Dutch progressive rock band Focus recorded in 1974 the offset two verses of the vocal for their anthology Hamburger Concerto.

The theme of the "Massacre of the Innocents" has provided artists of many nationalities with opportunities to compose complicated depictions of massed bodies in fierce activity. It was an alternative to the Flight into Arab republic of 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.^[xvi] The horrific subject area matter of the Massacre of the Innocents also provided a comparison of aboriginal brutalities with the brutalities of the early modern menses, during the menstruation of religious wars that followed the Reformation – Bruegel'southward versions show the soldiers carrying banners with the Habsburg double-headed hawkeye (frequently used at the time for Aboriginal Roman soldiers).^{[ commendation needed ]}

The 1590 version by Cornelis van Haarlem also seems to reflect the violence of the Dutch Revolt. Guido Reni's early on (1611) Massacre of the Innocents, in an unusual vertical format, is at Bologna.^[17] The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens painted the theme more than once. One version, now in Munich, was engraved and reproduced as a painting equally far away as colonial Republic of peru.^[18] Some other, his grand Massacre of the Innocents is now at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Ontario. The French painter Nicolas Poussin painted The Massacre of the Innocents (1634) at the top of the Thirty Years' War.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Childermass, afterward a traditional proper noun for the Banquet of the Holy Innocents, is the opening novel of Wyndham Lewis's trilogy The Human Historic period. In the novel The Fall (La Chute) by Albert Camus, the incident is argued by the primary character to be the reason why Jesus chose to let himself be crucified—as he escaped the punishment intended for him while many others died, he felt responsible and died in guilt. A similar interpretation is given in José Saramago'due south controversial The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, just there attributed to Joseph, Jesus' stepfather, rather than to Jesus himself. Every bit depicted by Saramago, Joseph knew of Herod'south intention to massacre the children of Bethlehem, merely failed to warn the townspeople and chose just to relieve his own kid. Guilt-ridden ever after, Joseph finally expiates his sin by letting himself be crucified (an event not narrated in the New Testament).^{[ citation needed ]}

The song "Long Way Effectually The Body of water", from the 1999 Christmas EP by the indie-stone band Low, tells the story from the perspective of the magi during their journey from Herod to the newborn Jesus, and the alert from the affections not to render.

The Massacre is the opening plot used in the 2006 motion picture The Birth Story (2016).^{[ commendation needed ]} Information technology is too dramatized in season 1 of the idiot box miniseries Jesus of Nazareth (1977).

The Cornish poet Charles Causley used the field of study for his poem The Innocents' Song, which as a folk song has been performed by Bear witness of Hands with music past Johnny Coppin (on their anthology Witness); past Keith Kendrick and Sylvia Needham; and by Keith Kendrick and Lynne Heraud (as Herod on their Album Stars in my Crown).^{[ citation needed ]}

Paintings [edit]

• Massacre of the Innocents by the Bruegels. Several versions of The Massacre of the Innocents were painted past Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1565–67) and his son Pieter Brueghel the Younger (into the 17th century).
• Massacre of the Innocents past Guido Reni, created in 1611 for the Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna, but now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in that city
• Two versions past Peter Paul Rubens, painted in 1611–1612 and 1636–1638
• Massacre of the Innocents past Matteo di Giovanni

Music [edit]

• Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Caedes sanctorum innocentium, H.411, Oratorio for soloists, chorus, 2 violins and continuo (1683–85)

Banquet 24-hour interval [edit]

The commemoration of the massacre of the Holy Innocents, traditionally regarded as the first Christian martyrs, if unknowingly so,^{[19] [b]} first appears as a banquet of the Western church building in the Leonine Sacramentary, dating from nearly 485. The earliest commemorations were connected with the Banquet 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 (sixth century) gives a homily De Epiphania, deque Innocentum nece et muneribus magorum ("On Epiphany, and on the murder of the Innocents and the gifts of the Magi").^[c]

Today, the date of Holy Innocents' Day, also called the Feast of the Holy Innocents or Childermas or Children's Mass, varies. Information technology is 27 December for West Syrians (Syriac Orthodox Church, Syro-Malankara Cosmic Church building, and Maronite Church) and ten January for East Syrians (Chaldeans and Syro-Malabar Cosmic Church building), while 28 December is the engagement in the Church building of England (Festival),^[20] the Lutheran Church building and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. In these latter Western Christian denominations, Childermas is the quaternary twenty-four hours of Christmastide.^[21] The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the banquet on 29 Dec.^[22]

From the time of Charlemagne, Sicarius of Bethlehem was venerated at Brantôme, Dordogne as ane of the purported victims of the Massacre.^[23]

In the Roman Rite, the 1960 Lawmaking of Rubrics prescribed the use of the red vestments for martyrs in identify of the violet vestments previously prescribed on the feast of the Holy Innocents. The banquet continued to outrank the Sunday inside the Octave of Christmas until the 1969 motu proprio Mysterii Paschalis replaced this Sunday with the feast of the Holy Family.

In the Heart Ages, especially north of the Alps, the mean solar 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.^[24] Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens suggest that this was a Christianized version of the Roman almanac banquet of the Saturnalia (when even slaves played "masters" for a day). In some regions, such as medieval England and France, it was said to exist an unlucky day, when no new projection should be started.^[25]

There was a medieval custom of refraining where possible from work on the day of the week on which the feast of "Innocents Twenty-four hour period" had fallen for the whole of the post-obit 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.^[26]

In Kingdom of spain, Hispanic America, and the Philippines,^[27] December 28 is nevertheless a day for pranks, equivalent to April Fool'south Day in many countries. Pranks (bromas) are also known every bit inocentadas and their victims are called inocentes; alternatively, the pranksters are the "inocentes" and the victims should not exist aroused at them, since they could not take committed any sin. One of the more than famous of these traditions is the annual "Els Enfarinats" festival of Ibi in Alacant, where the inocentadas dress upward in full armed services clothes and incite a flour fight.^[28]

In Trinidad and Tobago, Roman Cosmic children accept their toys blest at a Mass.^[29]

Gallery [edit]

• 

  Giotto, Massacre of the Innocents

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See also [edit]

• Chapel of the Milk Grotto
• Coventry Ballad
• Flight into Egypt
• Jesus and Messianic prophecy § Jeremiah 31:15
• Star of Bethlehem

Notes [edit]

1. ^ Holweck 1910 states "The Greek Liturgy asserts that Herod killed xiv,000 boys (ton hagion id chiliadon Nepion), the Syrians speak of 64,000, many medieval authors of 144,000, according to Apocalypse 14:3. Writers who take the historicity of the episode reduce the number considerably, since Bethlehem was a rather pocket-size town. Joseph Knabenbauer brings it downward to fifteen or twenty (Evang. S. Matt., I, 104), August Bisping to 10 or twelve (Evang. South. Matt.), Lorenz Kellner to most six (Christus und seine Apostel, Freiburg, 1908)".
2. ^ Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. 3.16.4) and Cyprian (Epistle 56)
3. ^ Prudentius, Leo, and Fulgentius are noted in Smith & Cheetham 1875, pp. 839ff.

References [edit]

Citations [edit]

1. ^ "Patron Saints A-Z". catholic.org.
2. ^ ^{a b} Clarke 2003, p. 22.
3. ^ ^{a b} Maier 1998, p. 170-171.
4. ^ Clarke 2003, p. 23.
5. ^ Magness 2021, p. 126.
6. ^ Lincoln 2013, p. 44.
7. ^ ^{a b} Chocolate-brown 1978, p. 11.
8. ^ Dark-brown 1978, p. 13.
9. ^ France 2007, p. 82.
10. ^ France 2007, p. 82-83.
11. ^ Ferguson 2003, p. 390.
12. ^ Maier 1998, p. 179, 186.
13. ^ Mina 1907, pp. 300-.
14. ^ "The Coventry Carol". The version from Bramley and Stainer (1878)
15. ^ Studwell 1995, p. 15.
16. ^ "Getty Drove". Getty.edu. 2009-05-07. Archived from the original on 2005-12-05. Retrieved 2012-06-fifteen .
17. ^ "Reni's painting at the Web Gallery of Art". Wga.hu. Retrieved 2012-06-15 .
18. ^ The Massacre of the Innocents in Cuzco Cathedral is clearly influenced by Rubens. See CODART Courant, December 2003, 12. (2.5 MB pdf download)
19. ^ Smith & Cheetham 1875, pp. 839-.
20. ^ "The Agenda". The Church of England . Retrieved 2021-04-10 .
21. ^ "Day Iv: December 28, Banquet of the Holy Innocents". Catholic Culture. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
22. ^ troparia, All; saints, kontakia · All lives of. "Lives of the Saints". www.oca.org.
23. ^ Wasyliw 2008, p. 46.
24. ^ Holweck 1910.
25. ^ Blackburn & Holford-Strevens 1999, pp. 537–538.
26. ^ de Commynes 1972, pp. 253–254.
27. ^ B. A., Seattle Pacific University. "Information technology's No Joke: Dec. 28 Is for Pranks in Spanish-Speaking Countries". ThoughtCo . Retrieved 2021-03-30 .
28. ^ BBC News report of the 2010 festival.
29. ^ ""Feast of Holy Innocents", Trinity and Tobago Newsday, December 30, 2103". Newsday.co.tt. 2013-12-thirty. Retrieved 2018-04-16 .

Sources [edit]

• Blackburn, Bonnie J.; Holford-Strevens, Leofranc (1999). The Oxford Companion to the Year. Oxford University Printing. ISBN978-0-nineteen-214231-3.
• Brownish, Raymond Edward (1978). An Developed Christ at Christmas: Essays on the Three Biblical Christmas Stories. Liturgical Printing. ISBN978-0-8146-0997-2.
• Clarke, Howard (2003). The Gospel of Matthew and Its Readers: A Historical Introduction to the First Gospel. Indiana University Press. ISBN0-253-11061-0.
• de Commynes, Philippe (1972). Memoirs: The Reign of Louis Eleven, 1461-83. Penguin Books. ISBN978-0-fourteen-044264-nine.
• Ferguson, Everett (2003). Backgrounds of Early Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN978-0-8028-2221-five.
• France, R. T. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew. Eerdmans. ISBN978-0-8028-2501-8.
• Grant, Michael (1971). Herod the Corking. American Heritage Printing. ISBN978-0-07-024073-5.
• Harrington, Daniel (1991). The Gospel of Matthew. Liturgical Press. ISBN978-0-8146-5803-one.
• Holweck, Frederick George (1910). "Holy Innocents". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• James (2019). The Protoevangelium of James: Greek and English language Texts. Translated by Walker, Alexander. Dalcassian.
• Lincoln, Andrew (2013). Born of a Virgin?: Reconceiving Jesus in the Bible, Tradition, and Theology. Eerdmans. ISBN978-0-8028-6925-8.
• Magness, Jodi (2021). Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Mod Myth. Princeton University Press. p. 126. ISBN978-0-691-21677-five.
• Maier, Paul L. (1998). "Herod and the Infants of Bethlehem". In Summers, Ray; Vardaman, Jerry (eds.). Chronos, Kairos, Christos II: Chronological, Nativity, and Religious Studies in Memory of Ray Summers. Mercer University Press. ISBN978-0-86554-582-3.
• Mindel, Nissan. "Nimrod and Abraham – The Two Rivals – Jewish History". Chabad.org. Kehot Publication Society. Archived from the original on 2018-05-29.
• Mina, évêque de Pchati (1907). "Histoire d'Isaac, patriarche Jacobite d'Alexandrie de 686 à 689". Patrologia orientalis. Vol. 11. Translated past Porcher, E. Paris Firmin-Didot.
• Smith, William; Cheetham, Samuel (1875). 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. Vol. eleven. J. Murray.
• Studwell, William Emmett (1995). The Christmas Carol Reader. Haworth. ISBN978-1-56023-872-0.
• Vermes, Geza (2006). The Nativity: History and Legend. Penguin Uk. ISBN978-0-14-191261-5.
• Wasyliw, Patricia Healy (2008). Martyrdom, Murder, and Magic: Child Saints and Their Cults in Medieval Europe. Peter Lang. ISBN978-0-8204-2764-5.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents

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