All Souls Day and Why Catholics Celebrate It

All Saints Day

KieselUndStein / Getty Images

Often overshadowed by the two days preceding it, Halloween (Oct. 31) and All Saints Day (Nov. 1), All Souls Day is a solemn celebration in the Roman Catholic Church commemorating all of those who have died and are now in Purgatory, being cleansed of their venial sins and the temporal punishments for the mortal sins that they had confessed, and being made pure before entering into the presence of God in Heaven.

Fast Facts: All Souls Day

  • Date: November 2
  • Type of Feast: Commemoration
  • Readings: Wisdom 3:1-9; Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6; Romans 5:5-11 or Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40
  • Prayers: Eternal Rest, Eternal Memory, Weekly Prayers for the Faithful Departed
  • Other Names for the Feast: All Souls' Day, Feast of All Souls

The History of All Souls Day

The importance of All Souls Day was made clear by Pope Benedict XV (1914-22)​ when he granted all priests the privilege of celebrating three Masses on All Souls Day: one for the faithful departed; one for the priest's intentions; and one for the intentions of the Holy Father. On only a handful of other very important feast days are priests allowed to celebrate more than two Masses.

Pope Benedict XV
Pope Benedict XV. Imagno / Contributor / Getty Images

While All Souls Day is now paired with All Saints Day (November 1), which celebrates all of the faithful who are in Heaven, it originally was celebrated in the Easter season, around Pentecost Sunday (and still is in the Eastern Catholic Churches). By the tenth century, the celebration had been moved to October; and sometime between 998 and 1030, St. Odilo of Cluny decreed that it should be celebrated on November 2 in all of the monasteries of his Benedictine congregation. Over the next two centuries, other Benedictines and the Carthusians began to celebrate it in their monasteries as well, and soon the commemoration of all the Holy Souls in Purgatory spread to the entire Church.

Offering Our Efforts on Behalf of the Holy Souls

On All Souls Day, we not only remember the dead, but we apply our efforts, through prayer, almsgiving, and the Mass, to their release from Purgatory. There are two plenary indulgences attached to All Souls Day, one for visiting a church and another for visiting a cemetery. (The plenary indulgence for visiting a cemetery can also be obtained every day from November 1-8, and, as a partial indulgence, on any day of the year.) While the actions are performed by the living, the merits of the indulgences are applicable only to the souls in Purgatory. Since a plenary indulgence removes all of the temporal punishment for sin, which is the reason why souls are in Purgatory in the first place, applying a plenary indulgence to one of the Holy Souls in Purgatory means that the Holy Soul is released from Purgatory and enters Heaven. 

Praying for the dead is a Christian obligation. In the modern world, when many have come to doubt the Church's teaching on Purgatory, the need for such prayers has only increased. The Church devotes the month of November to prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and participation in the Mass of All Souls Day is a good way to begin the month.

Format
mla apa chicago
Your Citation
Richert, Scott P. "All Souls Day and Why Catholics Celebrate It." Learn Religions, Aug. 28, 2020, learnreligions.com/what-is-all-souls-day-542460. Richert, Scott P. (2020, August 28). All Souls Day and Why Catholics Celebrate It. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-all-souls-day-542460 Richert, Scott P. "All Souls Day and Why Catholics Celebrate It." Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-all-souls-day-542460 (accessed March 29, 2024).