Ss. Innocentium ~ Duplex II. classis

Commemoratio: Die IV infra Octavam Nativitatis

Sun, 12/28/25:

Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents, Mm, under the 1954 (double of the II class with simple octave) rubrics.

Mass: Pro populo. Proper Mass. Under the 1954 rubrics, unique among all feasts in the traditional Roman rite, violet vestments are usually worn today; however, since this year this feast falls on Sunday, red vestments are worn and all the usual elements of a festal Mass are observed. Gloria. Gradual/Alleluia. Credo. Preface of the Nativity. Proper Communicantes for Christmas in the Canon. Ite. Commemoration of the octave of Christmas.

Office: Festal office. Red (since this feast falls on Sunday this year). Matins of 3 nocturns of 9 lessons. Te Deum; omit proper responsory in lesson IX. At Matins, psalms and antiphons from the common of several martyrs outside Paschaltide. At Lauds and the hours, psalms of Sunday (Prime = 53, 118.1, 118.2) with proper antiphons. All else from the proper. Proper collect. At Lauds, commemoration of the octave of Christmas. Omit suffrage.

 (LB236 Twitter/X.)

Introitus
Ps 8:3
Ex ore infántium, Deus, et lacténtium perfecísti laudem propter inimicos tuos.
Ps 8:2
Dómine, Dóminus noster: quam admirábile est nomen tuum in univérsa terra!
V. Glória Patri, ...

Collect
℣. The Lord be with you.
℟. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
O God, Whose praise the Innocents, Your martyrs, this day proclaimed, not by speaking, but by dying, put to death in us all the wickedness of sin, so that Your faith which our tongue professes may be proclaimed also by our life.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

Let us pray.
For Octave of Nativity
Grant, we beseech You, almighty God, that the new birth, in the flesh, of Your only-begotten Son may deliver us whom the bondage of old keeps under the yoke of sin.
Through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
Matt 2:13-18
At that time, an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. And so on.

Homily by St. Jerome, Priest (at Bethlehem)
Book I Comment, on Matth. II
He took the young Child, and His mother, and fled into Egypt, by night and in darkness; and the darkness of that night was a figure of the darkness of ignorance in which they left the unbelievers from whom they fled. But when they returned into Judaea, we learn not from the Gospel that it was by night, or in darkness; which is an image of that light which will lighten the Jews, when, at the end of the world, they shall receive back the faith, which now lighteneth the Gentiles, even as Judaea received Christ returning from Egypt.

Post Communion
P. The Lord be with you.
S. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
We have partaken, O Lord, of the dedicated gifts: may they, we beseech You, help us through the intercession of Your saints both for this life and life eternal.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
R. Amen.

Let us pray.
For Octave of Nativity
Grant, we beseech You, almighty God, that the Saviour of the world, born this day, Who is the author of our birth in godliness, may bestow on us immortal life.
Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.
R. Amen