The month of November provides a special opportunity to remember and pray for our beloved dead. On Friday, November 1st we celebrate All Saints’ Day. In our churches, we have memorial books where the names of those dear to us are recorded and remembered. With this in mind, let me write to you about the importance of All Souls’ Day on November 2nd.
On All Saints Day, we honor the Church in Heaven and on All Souls Day, we commemorate the Church in Purgatory—the deceased faithful who are on their way to Heaven. Their present period of purification will infallibly end with their vision of God and union with the other saints. This, then, is not a day of mourning. We rejoice because our faithful departed have been judged worthy to be with God.
As early as the seventh century, certain monastic communities had specific days for commemorating the dead of their community. This practice spread, and by the ninth century it had become a commemoration of all the dead. In 998 St. Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, France, established that in his communities the commemoration of the faithful departed was to be celebrated on November 2nd.
In the fifteenth century, the custom arose in Spain of celebrating three Masses for the deceased on November 2nd and this custom prevailed throughout Spain, Portugal, and Spanish America.
Then in 1915, Pope Benedict XV—aware of the great number of deaths during World War I, which was then raging—extended to the entire Latin Church the privilege of celebrating three Masses for the deceased on this day.
Throughout the month of November, we can remember the Purgatorial Church with special prayers and visits to cemeteries. By so doing, we can actively live out the Collect for All Souls’ Day, when the Church prays:
Listen kindly to our prayers, O Lord,
and, as our faith in your Son,
raised from the dead, is deepened,
so may our hope of resurrection for your
departed servants also find new strength.
This month also affords us to pray for a holy death for ourselves, so that we too may one day be numbered among the Saints.
With Blessings!
Father Jonathan Gibson
Diocesan Spiritual Advisor
