A Short History of All Souls Day

As you are all probably aware, we will soon be commemorating All Soul’s Day, the companion celebration to the upcoming Feast of All Saints. Celebrating the legacy of all saints, known and unknown, who have gone before us makes sense, but how did it come to be companioned with All Soul’s Day and how is All Soul’s different?

The Collegeville liturgical references are extremely helpful in sorting out these types of questions for me. To summarize briefly, saying prayers for the dead reaches far back into antiquity, with each culture having its own prayers and ways of commemorating and honoring their deceased loved ones. As more and more people became Christian, these prayers changed and were adapted to Christian beliefs. St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. John Chrysostom, writing in the 300’s were among the first to mention formal prayers for the deceased family members.

By the ninth century, the idea for a day of prayer for all the dead began to develop. St. Odilo, the fifth abbot of Cluny, originally designated a day on which to commemorate the dead of his order, and this naturally led to commemorating and praying for all the dead. St. Odilo was the first to officially celebrate this day of prayer on November 2, 998. He linked it to the feast of All Saints, where God is thanked for the saints, and we meditate on their lives and lessons, and ask for their intercession. Pope Sylvester II approved the feast, and its celebration spread through the whole Church.

Praying for the dead is a worthy, time-honored tradition. If your parish celebrates the All Souls liturgy as well as All Saints, be sure to attend to pray for those friends and family members who have gone before you. Then, at home, bring deeper meaning to the feast by asking each member of the family to take turns sharing happy memories of someone who has died, and expressing gratitude to God for the blessings bestowed on the family through that person. At the end of the sharing, close with a family recitation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet for all those you have mentioned, and for all the dead. What better gift could we give our loved ones than to ask that they be held in the ocean of God’s fathomless mercy?

Reference:

Days of The Lord: The Liturgical Year, Volume 7 Solemnities and Feasts

The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN, 1994

Pgs. 252-257