All Saints Day

Today is All Saints Day. This day is also known as All Hallows' Day, Hallowmas, the Feast of All Saints, or Solemnity of All Saints. It is a day to commemorate all the saints of the church, both known and unknown, who have attained heaven.

While many saints have a specific feast day on which we celebrate their lives and work, the vast majority of the saints of heaven do not. Thus All Saints Day is particularly for those who have no special feast days of their own.

All Saints’ Day was not always a solemnity observed by the universal church, and is not celebrated everywhere on 1 November. The feast originated in the earliest centuries of the church, when Christians commemorated the many martyrs who died at the hands of their Roman persecutors.

As there were so many martyrs, they could not each have their own feast day; but they were seen as such important witnesses that the Christians did not want to leave any of them out.

As a result, a single commemoration for “all the martyrs” was observed each spring, which celebrated those who did not have their own unique feast.

Pope Gregory III consecrated a chapel at St. Peter’s Basilica to all the saints, as well, with an anniversary date of 1 November. Rome adopted 1 November as the date of the feast of All Saints in the eighth century, and in the ninth century Pope Gregory IV extended that observance to the whole of the Latin Church.

The celebration of this day expresses gratitude for their unique contributions and sacrifices, and acknowledges their continued spiritual presence in the lives of people today.