As regards St James we know that he was killed at the time of the Passover, so that the Hieronymian Martyrology makes the day in December to be the day of his consecration to the episcopate. Liturgists have said it was becoming that the King of glory should come into the world accompanied by the chiefs of his court. And it is not a wholly baseless fancy that already there was a desire (of which at a later period we have many illustrations) to connect a great festival with one or more other commemorations associated with it in thought. The memories of the age of the martyrs would naturally suggest the name of the protomartyr; while the relations of the Lord to St James, St John, and St Peter, and the eminence of St Paul may perhaps sufficiently account for their appearance here. There is little doubt that at the close of the fourth century the churches of Asia Minor had festivals of St Stephen on Dec. 26, St James and St John on Dec. 27, and St Peter and St Paul on Dec. 28[49]. And in the West our earliest information shows us St Stephen on Dec. 26; but there are variations as regards the other festivals. The ancient Kalendar of Carthage shows us on Dec. 27 ‘St John _the Baptist_ and James the Apostle, whom Herod slew,’ and Holy Innocents on Dec. 28[50]. The earliest Roman service-books show us only St John on Dec. 27, and he is St John _the Evangelist_[51]. Yet in the so-called Martyrology of St Jerome (which, though interpolated, contains many ancient features), we find at this day, together with ‘the Assumption of St John at Ephesus,’ ‘the ordination to the episcopate of James, the Lord’s brother, who was crowned with martyrdom at the paschal time[52].’ The Holy Innocents (Dec. 28) is known in the Latin books since the sixth century, and may well have been earlier; but Peter and Paul are found together on another day (June 29), the day of their martyrdom at Rome, as was generally assumed. Though we are not able to determine with precision on what day the Innocents of Bethlehem were commemorated in early times, there can be little doubt that there was some commemoration of those whom, as St Augustine says, ‘the Church has received to the honour of the martyrs.’