"Fetus" is a latin word meaning "offspring" or "young one" (even tiny one). There is clever rhetoric spreading that pro-lifers are "fetus worshipers". As a Catholic preparing through Advent for the coming of the Christ Child, I confess that I do indeed worship a Fetus!
This thought struck me while listening to Christmas Carols, especially the Coventry Carol (I highly reccomend Donna Cori Gibson’s rendition–#13 on A Traditional Christmas), and hearing the phrase "Thou Little Tiny Child".
Below is the story behind this beautiful hymn and the lyrics.
The Coventry Carol actually is not a Christmas carol because the words refer to Jesus as an infant, and are not actually to do with the birth itself. However, in tradition it has been sung at Christmas through several centuries. This Renaissance carol is named after the city of Coventry, England. The 15th Century Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, which was performed in Coventry, depicted Herod’s slaughter of the innocent children. It was told in lyrics. The song is about the women mouring King Herod’s brutality.
Over the years it has also become a hymn to be sung on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorating all of the innocent babes slaughtered by Herod’s men. How appropriate though, that we commemorate all of those innocent "little ones" slaughtered by abortion with this hymn.
"When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under." Matthew 2:16
Coventry Carol
Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
O sisters too, how may we do,
For to preserve this day
This poor Youngling for Whom we sing
By, by, lully, lullay?
Herod the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.
That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever morn and day
For Thy parting neither say nor sing,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,
By, by, lully, lullay.
Let’s continue to work and pray for the day when legalized abortion ceases, and when we will finally be freed from the hedonism that captivates our nation.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.
O Come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
And order all things mightily
To us the path of knowledge show
And teach us in her ways to go.
Refrain
O Come, O Come, Thou Lord of might:
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In Ancient times did give the law
In cloud, and majesty, and awe.
Refrain
O Come, thou rod of Jesse’s stem,
From ev’ry foe deliver them
That trust Thy mighty power to save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.
Refrain
O Come, thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav’nly home,
Make safe the way that leads on high,
That we no more have cause to sigh.
Refrain
O Come, Thou Dayspring from on High
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh.
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadow put to flight.
Refrain
O Come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid every strife and quarrel cease
And fill the world with heaven’s peace.
Refrain
This carol always resonated with me, it’s no-holds-barred description of infanticide rings all too true to my ears as well. . .”O sisters do,how may we do, for to preserve this day. . ” reminds me of how to keep the feast of the Holy Innocents tomorrow, for whom this carol could be a lament as well. I will visit the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan, and march with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal to an abortion mill to pray. It’s our modern day manger-to-Herod’s-palace tour.(see the post on my blog about this)