Even though today falls on a Sunday, it is the feast of the Holy Innocents in the pre-1955 calendar. The Mass for the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas is transferred to Dec 30 which is a feria day.
This feast also has a Simple Octave which is Jan 4.
The Holy Innocents are martyrs in deed, but not in intention. They were slain in their innocence before they had the use of their reason and could not directly offer up their lives for Christ.
This feast is one of the most tragic in the change of Missals. Not only does it have a Simple Octave, but on the actual feast day of Dec 28 in order to honor the sorrow of the mothers of the Holy Innocents the Church mourns along with the mothers weeping for their children. The Mass is offered in violet vestments and there is no Gloria or Alleluia. Instead there is a Tract. Only if the feast falls on a Sunday would there be red vestments, a Gloria and Alleluia as it would have on its Octave Day.
Holy Innocents, pray for us!
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