All Souls' Day

This article is about the Christian holiday. For the 1998 novel, see All Souls' Day (novel). For the 2005 film, see All Souls Day (film).

All Souls' Day

All Souls' Day by William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Also called Feast of All Souls; Defuncts' Day; Commemoration of the Faithful Departed
Observed by Roman Catholicism
Anglicanism
Eastern Orthodox Church
various Protestant denominations
Liturgical Color Violet, purple or, wear customary, black[1]
Type For the souls of all good who have passed
Observances Prayer for the departed, visits to cemeteries, special meals
Date (West) 2 November
(East) Several times during the year
Frequency annual
Related to Samhain, All Saints' Day, Day of the Dead, Halloween

All Souls' Day, in Christianity, is a day commemorating the faithful departed, in particular but not exclusively one's relatives.[2][3] In Western Christianity the annual celebration is now held on 2 November and is associated with All Saints' Day (1 November) and its vigil, Halloween (31 October).[4] In the liturgical books of the western Catholic Church (the Latin Church) it is called the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, and is celebrated annually on 2 November, even if this date falls on a Sunday;[5] on this day Catholics pray for the dead.[6] In Anglicanism it is called Commemoration of All Faithful Departed and is an optional celebration; Anglicans view All Souls' Day as an extension of the observance of All Saints' Day and it serves to "remember those who have died", in connection with the theological doctrines of the resurrection of the body and the Communion of Saints.[7][8] In the Eastern Orthodox Church and the associated Eastern Catholic Churches, it is celebrated several times during the year and is not associated with the month of November.

Beliefs and practices associated with All Souls' Day vary widely among Christian churches and denominations.

Byzantine (Greek) Catholic and the Eastern Orthodoxy

Among Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine (Greek) Catholics, there are several All Souls' Days during the year. Most of these fall on Saturday, since Jesus lay in the Tomb on Holy Saturday. These are referred to as Soul Saturdays. They occur on the following occasions:

In the Serbian Orthodox Church there is also a commemoration of the dead on the Saturday closest to the Conception of St. John the Baptist—23 September

In Slavic and Greek Churches, all of the Lenten Soul Saturdays are typically observed. In some of the Churches of the Eastern Mediterranean, Meatfare Saturday, Radonitsa and the Saturday before Pentecost are typically observed.

In addition to the Sundays mentioned above, Saturdays throughout the year are days for general commemoration of all saints, and special hymns to all saints are chanted from the Octoechos, unless some greater feast or saint's commemoration occurs.

Roman Catholicism

All Souls' Day, Painting by Jakub Schikaneder, 1888.

Prayer for the dead is a documented practice in Judaism and Christianity. The setting aside of a particular day for praying not for certain named individuals but for whole classes of the departed or for the dead in general cannot be traced to the earliest Christian centuries, but was well established by the end of the first millennium. Prayers for the deceased members of Benedictine monasteries were offered in the week after Pentecost and the practice of praying for the dead at a date near Pentecost was also followed in Spain in the 7th century. Other dates chosen were Epiphany and the anniversary of the death of some well-known saint, as shown by evidence from the beginning of the 9th century. By about 980, 1 October was an established date in Germany. The 11th century saw the introduction of a liturgical commemoration in diocesan calendars. In Milan the date was 16 October until changed in the second half of the 16th century to 2 November. This date, the day after All Saints' Day, was that which Saint Odilo of Cluny chose in the 11th century for all the monasteries dependent on the Abbey of Cluny. From these the 2 November custom spread to other Benedictine monasteries and thence to the Western Church in general.[9]

The official name of the celebration in the Roman Rite liturgy is "The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed".[10] In some countries the celebration is known as the Day of the Dead.

In the Roman Rite as revised in 1969, if 2 November falls on a Sunday, the Mass is of All Souls, but the Liturgy of the Hours is that of the Sunday. However, public celebration of Lauds and Vespers of the Dead with the people participating is permitted. A Sunday celebration of All Souls' Day is not anticipated on Saturday evening, as are a Sunday Mass and that of a solemnity or feast of the Lord that replaces a Sunday. In countries where All Saints' Day is not a holy day of obligation attendance at an evening Mass of All Saints on Saturday 1 November satisfies the Sunday obligation.[9] In every country, the formula of the Mass on that Saturday evening is that of the solemnity of All Saints, which outranks the Sunday of Ordinary Time whose Mass would normally be celebrated on that evening.[9][11] However, in 2014, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops decided that for that year the Saturday evening (Sunday vigil) Mass in that country was to be that of All Souls.[12]

In England and Wales, where holy days of obligation that fall on a Saturday are transferred to the following day, if 2 November is a Sunday, the solemnity of All Saints is transferred to that date, and All Souls Day is transferred to 3 November.[12] In pre-1970 forms of the Roman Rite, still observed by some, if All Souls Day falls on a Sunday, it is always transferred to 3 November.

Faithful departed may gain indulgence, either plenary or partial indulgence, if the living perform certain acts and meet the specified requirements.[13]:N.15

Anglican Communion

All Souls Anglican Church in the Diocese of Sydney, a parish dedicated to All Souls

In the Anglican Communion, All Souls' Day is known liturgically as the Commemoration of All Faithful Departed, and is an optional observance seen as "an extension of All Saints' Day", the latter of which marks the first day of Allhallowtide.[8][14] Historically and at present, several Anglican churches are dedicated to All Souls. During the English Reformation, the observance of All Souls' Day lapsed, although a new Anglican theological understanding of the day has "led to a widespread acceptance of this commemoration among Anglicans".[15] Patricia Bays, with regard to the Anglican view of All Souls' Day, wrote that:[7]

All Souls Day (November 2) is a time when we particularly remember those who have died. The prayers appointed for that day remind us that we are joined with the Communion of Saints, that great group of Christians who have finished their earthly life and with who we share the hope of resurrection from the dead.[7]

As such, Anglican parishes "now commemorate all the faithful departed in the context of the All Saints' Day celebration", in keeping with this fresh perspective.[16] Contributing to the revival was the need "to help Anglicans mourn the deaths of millions of soldiers in World War I."[17] Members of the Guild of All Souls, an Anglican devotional society founded in 1873, "are encouraged to pray for the dying and the dead, to participate in a requiem of All Souls' Day and say a Litany of the Faithful Departed at least once a month."[18]

Protestant churches

At the Reformation the celebration of All Souls' Day was fused with All Saints' Day in the Church of England, though it was renewed individually in certain churches in connection with the Oxford Movement of the 19th century. The observance was officially made prominent with the publication of the 1980 Alternative Service Book, and it features in Common Worship as a Lesser Festival called "Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day)".

A graveyard outside a Lutheran church in the Swedish city of Röke during Allhallowtide.

Among continental Protestants its tradition has been more tenaciously maintained. During Luther's lifetime, All Souls' Day was widely observed in Saxony although the Roman Catholic meaning of the day was discarded; ecclesiastically in the Lutheran Church, the day was merged with, and is often seen as an extension of All Saints' Day,[19] with many Lutherans still visiting and decorating graves on all the days of Allhallowtide, including All Souls' Day.[20] Just as it is the custom of French people, of all ranks and creeds, to decorate the graves of their dead on the jour des morts, so German, [21] Polish and Hungarian people stream to the graveyards once a year with offerings of flowers and special grave lights (see the picture). Among Czech people the custom of visiting and tidying graves of relatives on the day is quite common. In 1816, Prussia introduced a new date for the remembrance of the Dead among its Lutheran citizens: Totensonntag, the last Sunday before Advent. This custom was later also adopted by the non-Prussian Lutherans in Germany, but it has not spread much beyond the Protestant areas of Germany.

In the Methodist Church, saints refer to all Christians and therefore, on All Saint's Day, the Church Universal, as well as the deceased members of a local congregation are honoured and remembered.[22][23] In Methodist congregations that celebrate the liturgy on All Souls Day, the observance, as with Anglicanism and Lutheranism, is viewed as an extension of All Saints' Day and as such, Methodists "remember our loved ones who had died" in their observance of this feast.[24]

Origins, practices and purposes

Some believe that the origins of All Souls' Day in European folklore and folk belief are related to customs of ancestor veneration[25] practiced worldwide, through events such as, in India Pitru Paksha, the Chinese Ghost Festival, the Japanese Bon Festival. The Roman custom was that of the Lemuria.

The formal commemoration of the saints and martyrs (All Saints' Day) existed in the early Christian church since its legalization, and alongside that developed a day for commemoration of all the dead (All Souls' Day). The modern date of All Souls' Day was first popularized in the early eleventh century after Abbot Odilo established it as a day for the monks of Cluny and associated monasteries to pray for the souls in purgatory.

Many of these European traditions reflect the dogma of purgatory. For example, ringing bells for the dead was believed to comfort them in their cleansing there, while the sharing of soul cakes with the poor helped to buy the dead a bit of respite from the suffering of purgatory. In the same way, lighting candles was meant to kindle a light for the dead souls languishing in the darkness. Out of this grew the traditions of "going souling" and the baking of special types of bread or cakes.[26]

In Tirol, cakes are left for them on the table and the room kept warm for their comfort. In Brittany, people flock to the cemeteries at nightfall to kneel, bareheaded, at the graves of their loved ones, and to anoint the hollow of the tombstone with holy water or to pour libations of milk on it. At bedtime, the supper is left on the table for the souls.

In Bolivia, many people believe that the dead eat the food that is left out for them. In Brazil people attend a Mass or visit the cemetery taking flowers to decorate their relatives' grave, but no food is involved.

In Malta many people make pilgrimages to graveyards, not just to visit the graves of their dead relatives, but to experience the special day in all its significance. Visits are not restricted to this day alone. During the month of November, Malta's cemeteries are frequented by families of the departed. Mass is also said throughout the month, with certain Catholic parishes organising special events at cemetery chapels.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 346
  2. ↑ Cross, Frank Leslie; Livingstone, Elizabeth A. (2005). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780192802903. All Souls' Day. The commemoration of the souls of the faithful departed on 2 Nov., the day following All Saints' Day.
  3. ↑ Ball, Ann (2003). Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices. Our Sunday Visitor Publishing. p. 33. ISBN 9780879739102. All Souls' Day: The annual commemoration of all the faithful departed, November 2.
  4. ↑ Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt (1 August 1998). Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History. Pelican Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 1565543467. Retrieved 1 November 2012. The Church brought its saints' celebrations to every new land it conquered. The celebrations on the eve of All Saints, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (the three were referred to as Hallowmas) spread throughout Europe. From the British Isles to France to Poland and Italy, the religious remembrance of the ancestral dead became an annual celebration of major importance.
  5. ↑ Roman Missal, "The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed", and "Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar", 59
  6. ↑ Bregman, Lucy (2010). Religion, Death, and Dying. ABC-CLIO. p. 45. ISBN 9780313351808. The church also determined to observe November 2 as All Souls' Day, when Catholics pray for the souls of all who had died.
  7. 1 2 3 Bays, Patricia; Hancock, Carol L. (2012). This Anglican Church of Ours. Wood Lake Publishing Inc. p. 128. ISBN 9781770644397.
  8. 1 2 Armentrout, Donald S.; Slocum, Robert Boak (1999). An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church. Church Publishing, Inc. p. 7. ISBN 0898692113. Retrieved 1 November 2012. All Faithful Departed, Commemoration of. This optional observance is an extension of All Saints' Day. While All Saints' is to remember all the saints, popular piety felt the need to distinguish between outstanding saints and those who are unknown in the wider fellowship of the church, especially family members and friends. It is also known as All Souls' Day. Many churches now commemorate all the faithful departed in the context of the All Saints' Day celebration."
  9. 1 2 3 "Edward McNamara, "All Souls' Commemoration"". ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  10. ↑ Mershman 1907.
  11. ↑ Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, "Table of Liturgical Days"]
  12. 1 2 "Edward McNamara, "All Souls' Day and the Vigil Mass"". ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  13. ↑ "Enchiridion Indulgentiarum" (in Latin) (16 iulii 1999 - Quarta editio ed.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 1999.
  14. ↑ Dickison, Scott (22 October 2014). "Recovering Allhallowtide". Baptist News Global. Retrieved 20 September 2015. Within the greater tradition of the church, All Hallows’ Eve and All Hallows’/Saints’ Day are actually the first two days of “Allhallowtide,” with “All Souls’ Day” being the final holiday of this three-day “season.”
  15. ↑ Michno, Dennis G. (1 July 1998). A Priest's Handbook: The Ceremonies of the Church, Third Edition. Church Publishing, Inc. p. 160. ISBN 9780819225047. Though the observance of this day was abolished at the Reformation because of abuses connected with Masses for the dead, a renewed understanding of its meaning has led to a widespread acceptance of this commemoration among Anglicans, and to its inclusion as an optional observance in the calendar of the Episcopal Church.
  16. ↑ Armentrout, Don S. (1 January 2000). An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church. Church Publishing, Inc. p. 7. ISBN 9780898697018. Many churches now commemorate all the faithful departed in the context of the All Saints' Day celebration.
  17. ↑ English, June (2004). Anglican Young People's Dictionary. Church Publishing, Inc. p. 4. ISBN 9780819219855.
  18. ↑ Armentrout, Donald S.; Slocum, Robert Boak (1 January 2000). An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church. Church Publishing, Inc. p. 232. ISBN 9780898692112.
  19. ↑ Isaacs, Linda A. (6 November 2011). "St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Wurtemburg". St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Wurtemburg. Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America. In fact, the Lutheran tradition lumps "All Saints Day" and "All Souls Day" together because we believe that we are all saints through our faith!
  20. ↑ Venbrux, Eric; Quartier, Thomas; Venhorst, Claudia; Mathijssen, Brenda (2013-01-12). Changing European Death Ways. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 183. ISBN 9783643900678. The way in which graveyards in Denmark are looked after suggests that they are deemed important. ... they are in the hands of the Lutheran church ... Furthermore, special attention to the graves is paid by decorating them in the month of Christmas, at Easter and on All Souls' day. Aagedal (2010) writes that folk-church religiosity in Norway is best understood by looking at the burning of candles on graves.
  21. ↑ Anonymous 1911.
  22. ↑ Laura Huff Hileman (2003). "What is All Saint's Day?". The Upper Room (United Methodist Church). Retrieved 31 October 2011. Saints are just people who are trying to listen to God's word and live God's call. This is "the communion of saints" that we speak of in the Apostle's Creed -- that fellowship of believers that reaches beyond time and place, even beyond death. Remembering the saints who have helped extend and enliven God's kingdom is what All Saints Day is about.
  23. ↑ The Rev. J. Richard Peck (2011). "Do United Methodists believe in saints?". The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 31 October 2011. We also recognize and celebrate All Saints' Day (Nov. 1) and "all the saints who from their labors rest." United Methodists call people "saints" because they exemplified the Christian life. In this sense, every Christian can be considered a saint.
  24. ↑ Sherwood, Colin. "All Souls Day Service -". St Andrew`s Methodist Church. Methodist Church of Great Britain. Retrieved 21 September 2015. During our All Souls Day Service on 2nd. November, as we remembered our loved ones who had died, some recently and other longer ago, candles were lit in memory of them and placed on a cairn built in front of the pulpit.
  25. ↑ Kristin Norget (2006). Days of Death, Days of Life: Ritual in the Popular Culture of Oaxaca. Columbia University Press. pp. 193–. ISBN 978-0-231-13689-1. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  26. ↑ Medieval Histories 2012: 11:1 http://medievalhistories.com/wp-content/uploads/medievalhistories-november1.pdf

References

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