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All Saints Day

Information: A description of the beliefs and traditions of All Saints Day in Christianity. This festival is also known as All Saints, All Hallows, Hallowmas (hallows means 'saints', and mas means 'celebration').

Introduction

Statues of saints outside a church in New York City, USA (© Stephen A Richards)

In the Catholic Church, All Saints Day is considered a Solemnity, which is a day of great importance. As such, it is said to be a holy obligation to attend Mass on this day.

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Origins

The origins of the festival can be traced back to the the 4th Century CE, when people started to remember and celebrate the lives of Christian martyrs (those who had given up their life for their faith). However, the start of the festival we know today, was the 13th May 609.

May 13th was originally the beginning of the Roman festival called the Feast of the Lemures, during which time Romans exorcised malevolent spirits from their homes. Now it is a common practice in religions to find new festivals being instituted on the same day as 'pagan' ones. This is done not only to test the loyalty of new believers, but also to gradually phase the other belief system; and this is exactly what happened to the Feast of Lemures.

To counter this non-Christian Roman festival, Pope Boniface IV (d.615) 'Christianised' the 13th May by dedicating the Pantheon in Rome to Mary and all the saints, on this day on or around 609 CE.

The Pantheon at Rome (Source: www.artchive.com)

In terms of the western church, the modern celebration of the festival stems from the time Pope Gregory III (731-741) dedicated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica to all the saints on the 1st November 731 CE. The remembrance of this date was later extended to include all the church by Gregory IV (827-844), thus culminating in what we know today as All Saints Day.

St. Peter's Square by Viviano Codazzi (dated 1630) - Source: Wikipedia

'We celebrate today the solemnity of All Saints. This invites us to turn our gaze to the immense multitude of those who have already reached the blessed land, and points us on the path that will lead us to that destination.' (Pope John Paul II)

Customs

It is customary to remember the dead on this day, and Christians who celebrate this festival (and not all do), might pray for dead relatives, and visit their grave to show that these people are in their thoughts. In some churches a special mass on behalf of the dead may also be performed.

All Saints Day in Boronów, Poland (Source: Wikipedia)

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