In Herodem et infantes

On Herod and the Infants. I would always and at all times prefer to deliver a spiritual discourse, persuaded by Paul who says: comparing spiritual things with spiritual; especially since I was declared a debtor from the previous Lord’s Day of the Lord’s name. I do not know how this happens to me, that my poverty is never freed from debt, while you, insatiable lenders in spiritual matters, contrive the obligation with interest. But nevertheless I do not lament, O friends, but rather rejoice; for I am a hopeful slave of a wealthy master. Therefore I do not ask for pardon, but I call for indulgence. For I have God as the giver of words, who says: Open your mouth, and I will fill it, not because of the worth of the speaker, but because of the pious love of hearing of the listeners. For you heard the evangelist Matthew saying: When King Herod saw that he had been mocked by the Magi, he became very angry, and sent and killed all the children who were in Bethlehem and in all its territory, from two years old and younger, according to the time he had ascertained from the Magi. These things at the fleshly birth of Christ. But hear how it was foretold from many times before.

Thus, he says, the utterance of the prophet Jeremiah might be fulfilled, who said: "A voice was heard in Ramah, Rachel weeping for her children." Do you see how many generations beforehand the madness of Herod in the last days was announced? For, it says, having sent, he slew all the children in Bethlehem and in all its territory. O the madness of Herod, or rather the wickedness of the devil! For this deed also was his; he himself armed Herod against the infants. But nevertheless, he raised the sword of infanticide against himself; for Herod, having contrived many things, did not slay Jesus, whom he sought; and Herod's failure was the devil's distress. Seeing, it says, that he was mocked by the Magi, he became very angry, and having sent, he slew all the children in Bethlehem and in all its territory. O Herod, why do you rage so rashly? Why do you arm yourself against infants? You were mocked by the Magi, and you murder the babes? Did the babes, then, guide the Magi? A star revealed to them the born Lord. Unable to shoot the star, do you murder the babes? Or did you take hold of the kingdom for this, to display your might against those at the breast? Do you war against infants, Herod? Do you bereave mothers? Do you dry up breasts? Do you strip arms? Do you wound wombs? Do you multiply lamentations for women in labor? Will you slay the babes from two years old and younger? For you have somewhere to try your sword. This is not to murder, but to cut off before their time. Show the sword to the children; if they are frightened and shrink back, then kill, slaughter; but if they cheerfully run to the sword, why do you offer the sword to those who smile at it?

Do you think, Herod, to pursue the Savior and murder him? Since you are wholly resolved, issue a decree, recall the Magi, conceal the star, imprison Gabriel, interrogate the prophets, seek the Virgin Mother; if you lay hold of these, then you will be able to find Christ as well. Do you not glorify, but seek the one born without flowing? Do you wage war against God, O king? Do you meddle with the king who is? Do you wish to seize the one who seizes you? Do you wish to destroy the one who wishes to save you? Do you cunningly attempt to restrain the one who stands beside you, and who, because of your wickedness, does not wish to be seen by you? This is he, Herod, who cried out from many ages past: "The wicked will seek me, and will not find me." Do you despise him as an infant? He is far older than Abraham in his divinity; not only older than Abraham, but the creator of Adam as well. He has not put on cowardice, but is employing economy. Why then, Herod, do you rage rashly? The profit of untimely rage is a fall. Why do you do the same things as Pharaoh? He in Egypt ordered the male Hebrew infants to be cast into the river, and you in Bethlehem order the male Jewish infants to be murdered. O kindred wrath! O equal-weight mercilessness! O shared way of life of wickedness! Rather, it is now necessary to speak more truly, that Herod is far more savage than Pharaoh. Likewise, the bodyguards of Herod are far more harsh than the shield-bearers of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh, even though he ordered the male infants of the Jews to be murdered in Egypt, nevertheless undertook this as a foreigner, fearing that the race of the Israelites might prevail and ravage the Egyptians. Out of concern for the Egyptians, he slaughters the children of the Israelites; he wages war out of fear, not out of envy. For Pharaoh was thus more humane than Herod, in that he even annulled the law he had decreed and became a repealer of his own ordinance. For he found only Moses carried in a chest on the river; he took him up through his daughter, and not only did he not kill him, but he raised him as a son, annulling the law out of concern for the infant. What say you, Herod? Pharaoh preserves Moses, and you have chosen to pursue the Lord Christ? He preserves the one who was to scourge Egypt, and you wish to murder the one who saves the world? Again, the bodyguards of Herod are thus more shameful than the shield-bearers of Pharaoh. For the midwives, ordered to strangle the male Hebrew infants at the moment of birth, did not carry this out, being God-loving, and this though they were Egyptians by race; their innards were wrung within them, knowing what mothers suffer when deprived of male infants by violent death. Therefore they chose rather to offend the temporal king than to oppose the greater king and God. But Herod displayed his wickedness not against another nation, but contrived his madness against his own people. And Pharaoh bared such wrath only against Egypt, and no further.

Herod, however, ordered the infants to be cut down not only in Bethlehem but also throughout all its territories. Oh, that unjust decree, which suddenly fell at that time upon city and villages and fields and streets! There was nowhere for the mothers to hide their children; for they could not bear to remain outside their mothers' arms. And if ever a mother wished to hide her own child, that child would betray itself by its crying, drawing death upon itself through its love for the breast. For just as a fish cannot bear to live out of water, so an infant deprived of its mother's breasts soon meets its destruction. Oh, that universal lamentation! I cannot find how to describe the forms of the mothers' grief. If a barbarian invasion had occurred, the mothers would have borne the pain more lightly; for a shared misfortune knows how to bite the sufferer more moderately. It was not a barbarian invasion, but a civil war; it was violence without a hearing, lawlessness with law as its advocate. The mothers cried out, and there was no one to hear; the infants wailed in response, and there was no one to pity; the breasts poured milk onto the ground, and Herod was all the more hardened like stone. The bodyguards were more savage than the king, as they dealt with the infants in various ways, dashing some against the walls, crushing others on the rocks, and leaving still others to die slowly by strangulation. For the devil, the taskmaster of such a drama, drove them on in confusion. At these and similar events, the mothers grew weak, and, intoxicated by their suffering, they took no thought for decency. They tore their tunics, their

They were tossing their locks to the wind, they were exposing the breasts that ought to be hidden, they were beating their chests with stones, they were tearing their cheeks like executioners, they were calling upon heaven as a silent judge, they were making an appeal to the Judge and Master of all, saying: "What is this great cruelty of the king, O Master? He perpetrates these things against your own creations; you fashioned them, he does not cease slaughtering; you gave thanks, he destroys. Why did we bear males, if the death of males is so bitter? If this is your command, order us to die along with them; but if it is the undertaking and command of the lawless king, why do you not punish him more swiftly?" But it is likely that the mothers, stung by their grief, cry out these things, not knowing what is beneficial for their own little ones. Yet what is more blessed than those who are plotted against for the sake of the Master Christ? What is more blessed than these children, not only because they were slaughtered on their own account, but also because Christ himself was being murdered in them?

Indeed it is timely to say to the mothers the saying of the Lord: Do not weep, mothers, do not weep; for a short time you were deprived of your bosoms, but they have inherited the bosoms of Abraham. Do not weep, mothers, do not weep; nor hinder the infants from coming to me; for of such as these is the kingdom of the heavens; in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is the glory and the power, unto the ages of ages.