The day on which we recall those innocent children, the boys we call holy, who unknowingly gave their lives for their Savior, let’s hear the words of Saint Augustine of Hippo.
Today, dearest brethren, we celebrate the birthday of those children
who were slaughtered, as the Gospel tells us, by that exceedingly cruel king,
Herod. Let the earth, therefore, rejoice and the Church exult — she, the
fruitful mother of so many heavenly champions and of such glorious virtues.
Never, in fact, would that impious tyrant have been able to benefit these
children by the sweetest kindness as much as he has done by his hatred. For as
today’s feast reveals, in the measure with which malice in all its fury was
poured out upon the holy children, did heaven’s blessing stream down upon them.