Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was
exceedingly angry; and sending killed all the men children that
were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two
years old and under, according to the time which he had
diligently inquired of the wise men. (Matthew 2:16) It is not
possible to determine either the day or the year of the
slaughtering of the Holy Innocents, though the Armenians believe
it to have been fifteen weeks after the birth of Christ. We know
that it must have happened no less than forty days after the
Nativity, since Christ was presented in the Temple at that time
– he had not yet fled to Egypt and the Infants had not yet been
killed. The reason their feast is kept December 28th, within the
octave of Christmas, is that the Holy Innocents gave their lives
for the newborn Savior. Hence, these first flowers of the
Church, martyrs by blood alone, accompany the Holy Child Jesus
who entered this world on Christmas day. As they were redeemed
by the Birth of Christ, so we today