The Catholic Church commemorates All Saints’ Day, a feast honoring God and all the saints, on November 1st. Since the beginning of the Church, Christians have honored the lives of the saints who died as martyrs. Many cultures are familiar with All Saints’ Day because of the time off from school that it often coincides with. Despite its apparent name, All Saints’ Day is often confused with the subsequent All Souls’ Day and, to a lesser extent, with the preceding Halloween celebration.
Origin of All Saints’ Day
Origin
Before the 16th-century notion of devotion to the saints by the Pope, there were already several kinds of canonizations by various Christian groups. The origin of this day dates back even before the 12th-century canonization process. It’s believed that All Saints’ Day has been celebrated since at least the 5th century. Since no one date had been chosen during that period, most countries (including Syria and Rome) celebrated All Saints’ Day around Easter.
History
All Saints’ Day has been celebrated annually on May 13 since 610, when Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Roman Pantheon, rechristened as the Church of St. Mary and Martyrs. Some believe that the date of November 1 was chosen in the 8th century, during the dedication of a chapel to all the saints in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome by Pope Gregory III. However, others believe that this date was first chosen in 830, when Pope Gregory IV ordered the universality of All Saints’ Day, making it common to all of Christendom.
Unlike the next day’s All Souls’ Day, which is not a public holiday in some countries, All Saints’ Day is celebrated by many countries on November 1. For this reason, many Christians actually commemorate All Saints’ Day by doing rituals often associated with All Souls’ Day, such as paying respects at graves.
How Is All Saints’ Day Commemorated?
During All Saints’ Day, the believer does not pray to the saint, as is commonly assumed, but simply to God (in his three forms). The faithful person is “pleased” with expressing his or her appreciation for the saint and asking for the saint’s intercession with God. Therefore, the saint is not a god but rather a mediator between the believer and God.
In response to Protestant accusations that Catholics worshiped saints, this distinction was hammered out especially strongly at the Council of Trent (1545–1563). Protestants still don’t put much stock in saints, even today. The doctrine of the communion of saints is still not accepted by Protestants.
The Catholic Church glorifies persons who they believe had a direct connection with God by canonizing them and designating a day after them. However, the Catholic Church does not make the claim that they know all there is to know about all the saints who have lived and made it to heaven. This leads the church to believe that there are more saints than it is aware of, all of whom are worthy of worship.
The celebration of All Saints’ Day is an answer to this issue; it serves to reaffirm the connection between contemporary Christians and the many saints who have come before them, both those commemorated in the calendar and others who have been all but forgotten by history. All Saints’ Day is not only a day to honor the dead but also a time for Christians to reflect on how their own lives may emulate the sacrifices of the saints they honor.
The saints serve an important pedagogical purpose. A portion of Saint Mark’s Gospel read on All Saints’ Day is seen as crucial; it serves as a guide to holiness in its most distilled form.
What Exactly Is a Saint?
According to Catholic teaching, a saint is an outstanding human being (or an angel) who lived a good life on Earth. Actions that are totally consistent with what Jesus of Nazareth preached. Some of the saints were martyred because of how dedicated they were to their religion. According to the Catholic canon, others have worked miracles as well. Of course, seeing a miracle or dying a martyr is not required to become holy.
Popes have been bestowing this level of sanctity through the beatification and canonization processes since the 13th century. It seems that people who have been canonized are those who have achieved everlasting bliss and are now at peace with God. The Catholic Church established a martyrology to honor the lives of its martyrs and assigns each saint a special day of the year on which to be prayed.
Both Catholics and Orthodox Christians believe that the communion of the saints of the Church Triumphant in heaven with the Church Militant or the Church of the Living, is unbroken. Christians believe in a form of solidarity that transcends place and time, a bond known as the communion of saints, which connects both the living and the dead (Church Penitent). If one subscribes to this doctrine, he or she may address the saints as if they were right by his or her side during All Saints’ Day.
