All Saints’ Day, in the Roman Catholic Church, is officially the solemnity of all saints. It is also called “All Hallows” or “Hallowmas.” Often shortened to “All Saints,” it is a solemnity celebrated on November 1 by parts of Western Christianity and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity.
The day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven. It is a national holiday in many historically Catholic countries. In the Roman Catholic Church, the next day, All Souls’ Day, specifically commemorates the departed faithful who have not been purified and reached heaven.
Catholics celebrate both these days because of the fundamental belief that there is a prayerful spiritual communion between those in purgatory or heaven and those who are living. Different Christian traditions define, remember, and respond to the saints and dead in different ways.
Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Tradition follow the earlier tradition of commemorating all saints collectively on the first Sunday after Pentecost. The feast of All Saints achieved great prominence in the ninth century, in the reign of the Byzantine Emperor, Leo VI “the Wise.” His wife, Empress Theophano—commemorated on December 16—lived a devout life. After her death in 893, her husband built a church, intending to dedicate it to her. When he was forbidden to do so, he decided to dedicate it to “All Saints,” so that if his wife were in fact one of the righteous, she would also be honored whenever the feast was celebrated. According to tradition, it was Leo who expanded the feast from a commemoration of All Martyrs to a general commemoration of All Saints, whether martyrs or not.
The Western Christian holiday of All Saints’ Day falls on November 1, followed by All Souls’ Day on November 2. It is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. The origin of the festival of All Saints celebrated in the West dates to May 13, 609 or 610, when Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs. The feast of All Saints, on its current date, is traced to the foundation by Pope Gregory III (731–741) of an oratory in St. Peter’s for the relics “of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs, and confessors, and of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world,” with the day moved to the first of November. The festival was retained after the Reformation in the calendar of the Anglican Church and in many Lutheran churches. In the Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden, it assumes a role of general commemoration of the dead.
In the Roman Catholic Church, All Saints’ Day is a Holy Day of Obligation in many (but not all) countries; this means going to Mass on the date is required, unless one is ill or elderly. However, in a number of countries that do list All Saints’ Day as a Holy Day of Obligation, including England & Wales, the solemnity of All Saints’ Day is transferred to the adjacent Sunday if November 1 falls on a Monday or a Saturday. While in the same circumstances in the United States, the Solemnity is still celebrated on November 1, but the obligation to attend Mass is alleviated.
All Souls’ Day commemorates the faithful departed. In Western Christianity, this day is observed principally in the Catholic Church, although some churches of the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches also celebrate it. The official name of the celebration in the Roman Rite liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church is “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.”
Historically, the Western tradition identifies the general custom of praying for the dead with the Jewish practice of prayer for the dead dating as far back as 2 Maccabees 12:42-46. The custom of setting apart a special day for intercession for the faithful on November 2 was first established by St. Odilo of Cluny at his abbey of Cluny in 998. From Cluny the custom spread to the other houses of the Cluniac order, which became the largest and most extensive network of monasteries in Europe. The celebration was soon adopted in several dioceses in France, and spread throughout the Western Church. It was accepted in Rome only in the fourteenth century. While November 2 remained the liturgical celebration, in time the entire month of November became associated in the Western Catholic tradition with prayer for the departed; lists of names of those to be remembered are placed in the proximity of the altar on which the sacrifice of the mass is offered.
