Q. What are the origins of the feast days of All Saints and All Souls?
A. First, let’s talk about All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1). Anyone in heaven is a saint. And that is the goal of our lives, for to gain heaven means allowing God to make us saints. But, of course, not everyone in heaven has their own feast day on Church’s liturgical calendar. After all, there are only 365 days in the year! At first, only St John the Baptist and some martyrs had their own particular feast day.
In the early centuries of the Church, the faithful would celebrate the anniversary of a martyr’s death at the site of the martyrdom, and in the fourth century, dioceses which were geographically very close would begin to “trade” relics and feast days with each other. It was common in those days (as, sadly it still is in our time) for many people to be martyred at once, which led to joint feast days. The Church felt that every martyr should be venerated, and the only sensible way to do that was to eventually create a common feast day for them all.
The Church has taught since her earliest days that one who gives their life for the Gospel of Jesus Christ goes directly to heaven, thus becoming an “automatic” saint. Their suffering serves as their “purgation”, if you will, as they bypass purgatory altogether. Of course, many other exceptional saints have not needed purgatory, due to their outstanding holiness.
But the fact is that most of us will not yet have “been made perfect” (Matthew 5:48, Hebrews 12:23) at the time of our death, and have need of some purification after death in purgatory, for “without holiness no one can see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). What a good reason not to delay our need for spiritual development! And this brings us to the Feast of All Souls, commonly known as All Souls’ Day.
Q. Tell me more about why All Souls’ Day is so important.
A. All Souls’ Day (Nov. 2) is so important that priests are granted the rare opportunity on this day to celebrate three Masses (normally two is the max): one for the faithful departed; one for the intentions of the Holy Father; and one for the priest’s own intentions.
For the faithful, there are plenary indulgences granted to those who visit a cemetery to pray for the dead, and for visiting a Catholic church. This year, every Catholic must visit a church, because All Souls’ Day falls on a Sunday, a holy day of obligation to attend Mass! As Catholics we are also obligated to pray for the dead. Our prayers and spiritual sacrifices are counted on by those in purgatory. They need our help to allow God to purify them so that they may gain full entry into heaven. Once there, they will be no longer in need of our prayers, but will instead pray for us!
For those lost for all eternity in hell, no prayer can help them (the Church does not state who has ended up there, only who we know is in heaven). The only people who have passed into the afterlife who we can help with our prayers are the souls in purgatory. And those prayers are never wasted. If the deceased person whom we are praying for has, tragically, not died in God’s friendship, or if that person is already in heaven, the Lord will direct the benefits of our prayer to someone else who does need it and can benefit from it – perhaps souls in purgatory who have no one to pray for them.