The Holy Innocents

Each Year on the feast of the Holy Innocents, December 27, Mary's prolife Bootcamp and the Franciscan Daughters of Mary have an annual Mass and Prayer Vigil. The Feast of the Holy Innocents honors all the children that were killed at Herod's command around the time of Jesus' birth- Herod had heard of a new king being born and was afraid that his own crown would be endangered. So he ordered that all boys under the age of 2 years old would be killed. (Matthew 2:16-18) No one knows how many children this included, but they are honored as martyrs by the Catholic church to this day because, albeit unknowingly, they gave their lives for the Lord.

This is an important feast day for the pro-life movement because we see the unborn children who are aborted as the "Holy Innocents of today" It is always a fear, a misunderstanding or an unfortunate circumstance that is the motivation behind the taking of an innocent life, just as it was for those little boys over 2000 years ago. And so this is a special day to ask for the intercession of the Innocents of Bethlehem for the Innocents of today.

Fr. Thomas Picchioni from the diocese of Covington was our celebrant this year. This man is a real pro-life hero. Father Picchioni's home and parish are in Carrolton KY, almost 60 miles south-west of Cincinnati! Father had to drive over an hour, and most of his drive is directly into the sun at that time of the morning.

Here are some pictures from this year's celebration as well as some highlights from previous years.