Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings, O God, Thou hast perfected praise because of Thine enemies. * O Lord our God: how admirable is Thy name in the whole earth!
(Psalm 8:3,2 from the Introit of Mass)
Deus, cujus hodiérna die praecónium Innocentes Mártyres non loquéndo, sed moriéndo conféssi sunt: ómnia in nobis vitiórum mala mortífica; ut fidem tuam, quam lingua nostra lóquitur, étiam móribus vita fateátur.
O God, Whose praise the martyred innocents did this day proclaim, not by speaking, but by dying, do to death in us all the malice of sinfulness, that our lives may also proclaim Thy faith, which our tongues profess.
(Collect)
From a Sermon of the Bishop St Augustine.
Once the Lord was born, mourning beginneth; not indeed in heaven, but on earth : lamentation amongst mothers ; joy amongst angels ; migration amongst infants. It is God who is born. For him, Innocents be a fit sacrifice, in that he cometh to condemn the wickedness of the world. Fitly are little lambs offered, in that there shall one day be crucified the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world. But the ewes do complain at the loss of their lambs, dumbly bleating, unable to speak. O mighty martyrdom! O cruel sight! The sword is drawn, yet there is no cause for the same. It is envy alone that demandeth this blood, seeing that he who is born doth violence to no one. Nonetheless we do see mothers, like ewes, mourning over their lambs. In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning. But these lambs be pledges, not entrusted to man, rather created only for God ; not come to remain in the sight of mankind, but only to be shewn forth a brief space in their sight.
(Sermo 1 de Innocentibus)
From a Sermon of the Bishop St Augustine.
Once the Lord was born, mourning beginneth; not indeed in heaven, but on earth : lamentation amongst mothers ; joy amongst angels ; migration amongst infants. It is God who is born. For him, Innocents be a fit sacrifice, in that he cometh to condemn the wickedness of the world. Fitly are little lambs offered, in that there shall one day be crucified the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world. But the ewes do complain at the loss of their lambs, dumbly bleating, unable to speak. O mighty martyrdom! O cruel sight! The sword is drawn, yet there is no cause for the same. It is envy alone that demandeth this blood, seeing that he who is born doth violence to no one. Nonetheless we do see mothers, like ewes, mourning over their lambs. In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning. But these lambs be pledges, not entrusted to man, rather created only for God ; not come to remain in the sight of mankind, but only to be shewn forth a brief space in their sight.
(Sermo 1 de Innocentibus)
From the Catholic Encyclopaedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07419a.htm
Reference for the reading from St Augustine: http://www.breviary.net/propseason/christmas/propseasonchri0104.htm#Matins
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