The death of an innocent person is a complex moral force. The death is, obviously, a death of Innocence in the wider sense. There can also be questions of why they died; for whom they died; and whether they died in our place.
As to senselessness, it is difficult to find more clarity that that in the answer given by the papal legate at the massacre of Beziers. When asked by a crusader how to kill Cathars while keeping Catholics safe, he replied caedite eos. novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius, which has come down to us as “Kill them all; God will know his Own.”
The massacre of young children is particularly poignant, no doubt because it is common across many cultures that children are by definition innocent. They have not been initiated with rites of passage and have not suffered the humanity of puberty.
The massacre of young children alone is relatively rare. Yes, there are wholesale massacres which include children. And yes, there are massacres of particular groups including children. One of the most infamous was upon a direction in 1942 by the head of the Nazi administration to the Council of Elders in the Lodz Ghetto to hand over all children under 10; however, the direction also included adults over 65.
Two famous examples are in the Bible.
The first is recorded in Exodus, when “Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.”
The second is recorded by Matthew. The magi having informed Herod of the time of Christ’s birth and having had the good fortune to dream that returning to Herod after visiting Christ might be a bad idea, fled:
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
The western churches including Roman Catholics and Anglicans celebrate the last massacre on 28 December, the fourth day of Christmas, Childermas, or the Feast of the Holy Innocents.
The feast was part of the Feast of Fools. The idea was that there should be a a celebration which allowed those at the bottom of the pile to pretend to be at the top, a way of letting off steam.
Needless to say, things got out of hand. In 1435, the Ecumenical Council of Florence intoned:
In some churches, during certain celebrations of the year, there are carried on various scandalous practices. Some people with mitre, crozier and pontifical vestments give blessings after the manner of bishops. Others are robed like kings and dukes; in some regions this is called the feast of fools or innocents, or of children. Some put on masked and theatrical comedies, others organize dances for men and women, attracting people to amusement and buffoonery. Others prepare meals and banquets there. This holy synod detests these abuses.
The church was not entirely successful. Four hundred years later, Hugo elected Quasimodo as “Pope of Fools”. In the words of the song “Topsy Turvy” in Disney’s 1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame:
Close the churches and the schools
It’s the day for breaking rules
Come and join the feast of Fools!
