Leaf from an Antiphonary, with the Initial C ("Centum"): The Slaughter of the Innocents

This leaf comes from an antiphonary commissioned for the cathedral of Lucca by its bishop, Stefano Trenta. It depicts the Massacre of the Innocents, described in the Gospel of Matthew. According to Matthew, King Herod, in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus, ordered his soldiers to slaughter all infants in Bethlehem under the age of two. A massive King Herod dominates the initial in this leaf, while a soldier attacks an innocent child in the foreground. Violent scenes such as these typify representations of the Slaughter of Holy Innocents, whose victims were baptized by blood, becoming Christianity’s first martyrs, whose deaths were remembered in with a liturgical feast on December 28th. The image opens a text that was sung at the hour of Matins.