Also known as All Hallows Day, Hallowmas, or All Saints Day, the Solemnity of All Saints is an important holy day celebrated each year on November 1. It is dedicated to all of those people who have died and are now with God in Heaven.
Initially, the saints who were honored by the Church were all martyrs. Later, other people who had modeled their life after Jesus and exhibited heroic sanctity were also venerated.
Many saints are recognized on a particular day on the Church’s calendar but All Saints Day is an opportunity to remember all the saints, including those who have not been formally canonized and who are known only to God.
Along with All Hallows Eve the night before and All Souls Day the day after, All Saints Day is part of Allhallowtide when Catholics place a special emphasis on remembering the dead.
All Saints Day is a solemnity and a holy day of obligation. All Catholics are required to attend Mass.
A “great cloud of witnesses” encourage and support us:
A celebration of our heroes:
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night within his temple; and he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 7: 13-17
Our connection with everyday sanctity:
Flesh and blood bound for Heaven:
Coming in contact with those already in eternity:
The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise Him and constantly care for those whom they have left on Earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were “put in charge of many things.” Their intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2683
There are saints who are known to God alone:
The perfection of God is expressed in the diversity of the saints:
Exemplifying holiness in spite of human weakness:
Today we think of all our loved ones who await us with the Lord. Who doesn’t have some deceased loved one to piously remember? Who should not be grateful to those who preceded him “with a sign of faith”? We have all received life: we have ancestors, grandparents, parents, we have generations who have traveled and shown us the ways of faith and peace. We owe the precious gift of life to these our predecessors; and we are therefore indebted to them of great, special gratitude and faithful piety, convinced, as we are, of never forgetting those who have worked for us, suffered and handed over to us the sacred and divine treasure of existence. This duty is very high and although, according to the dictates of our time, we are not accustomed to turning our eyes backwards, preferring to direct our gaze to the aspirations and interests of the present and the future, nevertheless, precisely as men and as Christians, we must those who lived before us and who for us built everything we have, this tribute of gratitude, of prayer, of honor.
Pope Paul VI, Homily, 1 November 1964
Venerating their honor serves us, not them:
Celebrating the glorified dead at the Pantheon:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
A heart pierced by the Father’s love:
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