From time immemorial, children have been slaughtered. The biblical book of Exodus tells of Pharaoh’s plan to have enslaved Hebrew children killed at birth to keep their population from becoming unmanageable; it also tells of the slaughter of the first-born children among the Egyptians as a means of gaining freedom for these enslaved Hebrews. The Gospel According to Matthew details King Herod’s slaughter of children in ancient Judea, ostensibly to ensure his grip on power. In the 13th century, children were recruited as leaders off one of the Christian Crusades (not surprisingly called the “Children’s Crusade”) to recapture the so-called Holy Land from Muslim control–with the result that many children were tricked, captured, sold into slavery and/or outright killed.

More recently, Boko Haram (aka the Islamic State in Western Africa), active in Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon, has kidnapped and killed untold thousands of people–including, most infamously, young females. Countless revolutionary groups throughout the world have recruited and/or forced children into their ranks. Even in the United States today, persons too young to legally purchase alcohol are sent to war in our country’s name, with far too many never returning whole or alive–having been given orders to ensure that many of our enemies’ similarly aged young people likewise never return to their own families. Certainly, in these more modern examples, the young people involved were and are (like today’s saint) predominantly drawn from the poorer strata of their societies.

Here is the entirety of Butler’s entry about today’s saint, a child named Mamas:

[H]e was a poor shepherd’s boy at Caesarea in Cappadocia (in modern-day Turkey), who, seeking from his infancy the kingdom of God with his whole heart, distinguished himself by his extraordinary fervour in the divine service. Being apprehended by the persecutors about the year 274 or 275, he suffered the most cruel torments with a holy joy, and attained in his youth a glorious crown of martyrdom.

Now, I believe that a life is complete, in and of itself, whether it is 1 day, 1 month, or 100 years in length. I also believe that a life spent meaningfully, even when the result is death at a young age, can be better spent than a miserly of one three-score and ten (70) years. And, goodness knows, I do not begrudge canonization for young Mamas.

What I do not grasp, however, is why the story of Mamas–or of any other murdered youth–is touted as an example of “a glorious crown of martyrdom.” I understand how, for those who knew and mourned Mamas, it is better to find meaning in his death rather than simply saying “what a waste!” Yet why would the story of a child tortured to death for any reason–including religious bigotry on the part of the murderers–be offered as an inspirational example? A call to end bigotry, yes! A call to end the use of religion as a justification for child abuse, yes! A cautionary tale against exciting children into beliefs and choices that they mightn’t be fully mature enough to make, yes! But as something pleasing to God?

No. Just No.