All Saints' Day is a Christian holy day celebrated in honour of all the saints of the Church. In the 9th century, some churches in the British Isles began holding the commemoration of all saints on November 1. The Catholic Church then adopted this date.
All Saints' Day is a solemnity in Catholicism and a festival in Lutheranism. The Eastern Orthodox Church and associated Eastern Catholic and Eastern Lutheran churches celebrate it on the first Sunday after Pentecost. The Syro-Malabar Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church, both of which are in communion with Rome, as well as the Church of the East, celebrate All Saints' Day on the first Friday after Easter Sunday. In the Coptic Orthodox tradition, All Saints' Day is on Nayrouz, celebrated on September 11. The day is the start of the Coptic new year, and of its first month, Thout.
In the Western Christian practice, the liturgical celebration begins with its first vespers on the evening of October 31, All Hallows' Eve (All Saints' Eve or Hallowe'en), and ends at the compline of November 1. It is thus the day before All Souls' Day, which commemorates the faithful departed. In many traditions, All Saints' Day is part of the season of Allhallowtide, which includes the three days from October 31 to November 3 inclusive, as well as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (held on the first Sunday of November), and in some Christian denominations, such as Anglicanism, extends to Remembrance Sunday. In places where All Saints' Day is observed as a public holiday, cemetery and grave rituals such as offerings of flowers, candles and prayers or blessings for the graves of loved ones often take place on All Saints' Day (along with other days of Allsaintstide, especially on All Hallows Eve and All Souls Day). The use of candles by Christians symbolized the light of Christ and the use of lamps at the tombs of Christian martyrs dates back to the early Christian period. In Austria and Germany, godparents gift their godchildren Allerheiligenstriezel (All Saint's Braid) on All Saint's Day, while the practice of souling remains popular in Portugal. It is a national holiday in many Christian countries.
The Christian celebration of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day stems from a belief that there is a powerful spiritual bond between those in heaven (the "Church triumphant"), the living (the "Church militant"), and the "Church penitent" which includes the faithful departed. In Catholic theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven. The Lutheran branch of Christianity, on All Hallows' Day, remembers "those blessed fellow-believers who died in the Lord and are now at rest even as we wait with them for the Last Day and the resurrection of the body to eternal life with Christ." In Methodist theology, All Saints' Day revolves around "giving God solemn thanks for the lives and deaths of his saints", including those who are "famous or obscure". As such, individuals throughout the Church Universal are honoured, such as Paul the Apostle, Augustine of Hippo and other saints, varying according to the hagiographic traditions of the Church in question. In some traditions, the day is also used to celebrate individuals who have personally led one to faith in Jesus, such as one's grandmother or friend.
Observance by Christian denomination Western Christianity
The holiday of All Saints' Day falls on November 1 and is followed by All Souls' Day on November 2. It is a Solemnity in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, a Festival in the Lutheran Churches, and a Principal Feast of the Anglican Communion.
History From the 4th century, there existed in certain places and at sporadic intervals a feast day to commemorate all Christian martyrs.Smith, C. (1967) The New Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "All Saints, Feast of", Vol. 1, p. 318. It was held on May 13 in Edessa, the Sunday after Pentecost in Antioch, and the Friday after Easter by the Syrians. During the 5th century, St. Maximus of Turin preached annually on the Sunday after Pentecost in honor of all martyrs in what is today northern Italy. The Comes of Würzburg, the earliest existing ecclesiastical reading list, dating to the late 6th or early 7th century in what is today Germany, lists the Sunday after Pentecost as dominica in natale sanctorum ('Sunday of the Nativity of the Saints'). By this time, the commemoration had expanded to include all saints, martyred or not.
On 13 May 609 or 610, Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the martyrs, ordering an anniversary; the feast of dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Martyres has been celebrated at Rome ever since. It is suggested May 13 was chosen by the Pope and earlier by Christians in Edessa because it was the date of the Roman pagan festival of Lemuria, in which malevolent and restless spirits of the dead were propitiated. Some liturgiologists suggest that Lemuria was the origin of All Saints, based on their identical dates and their similar theme of "all the dead".
Pope Gregory III (731–741) dedicated an oratory in Old St. Peter's Basilica to the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world". Some sources say Gregory III dedicated the oratory on November 1, and this is why the date became All Saints' Day. Other sources say Gregory III held a synod to condemn iconoclasm on 1 November 731, but he dedicated the All Saints oratory on Palm Sunday, 12 April 732.McClendon, Charles (2013). "Old Saint Peter's and the Iconoclastic Controversy", in Old Saint Peter's, Rome. Cambridge University Press. . pp. 215–216: "Soon after his election in 731, Gregory III summoned a synod to gather on 1 November in the basilica of Saint Peter's in order to respond to the policy of iconoclasm that he believed was being promoted by the Byzantine Emperor [...] Six months later, in April of the following year, 732, the pope assembled another synod in the basilica to consecrate a new oratory dedicated to the Saviour, the Virgin Mary, and all the saints".Ó Carragáin, Éamonn (2005). Ritual and the Rood: Liturgical Images and the Old English Poems of the Dream of the Rood Tradition. University of Toronto Press. . p. 258: "Gregory III began his reign with a synod in St Peter's (1 November 731) which formally condemned iconoclasm [...] on the Sunday before Easter, 12 April 732, Gregory convoked yet another synod [...] and at the synod inaugurated an oratory [...] Dedicated to all saints, this oratory was designed to hold 'relics of the holy apostles and all the holy martyrs and confessors'".Levy, Ian; Macy, Gary and Van Ausdall, Kristen (editors) (2011). A Companion to the Eucharist in the Middle Ages. Brill Publishers. p. 151. Noble, Thomas (2012). Images, Iconoclasm, and the Carolingians. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 125.
By 800, there is evidence that churches in Gaelic IrelandFarmer, David. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Fifth Edition, Revised). Oxford University Press, 2011. p. 14 and Anglo-Saxon Northumbria were holding a feast commemorating all saints on November 1. There was much Gaelic influence on Northumbria and its church during this period. Some manuscripts of the Irish Martyrology of Tallaght and Martyrology of Óengus, which date to this time, have a commemoration of all saints of the world on November 1.Butler, Alban. Butler's Lives of the Saints, New Full Edition, Volume 11: November (Revised by Sarah Fawcett Thomas). Burns & Oates, 1997. pp. 1–2. Quote: "Some manuscripts of the ninth-century Félire, or martyrology, of St Oengus the Culdee and the Martyrology of Tallaght (c. 800), which have a commemoration of the martyrs on 17 April, a feast of 'all the saints of the whole of Europe' on 20 April, and a feast of all saints of Africa on 23 December, also refer to a celebration of all the saints on 1 November". In 800, Alcuin of Northumbria recommended the November 1st feast to his friend, Arno of Salzburg in Bavaria.Dales, Douglas (2013). Alcuin II: Theology and Thought. James Clarke and Co. pp. 34, 39–40 McCluskey, Stephen (2000). Astronomies and Cultures in Early Medieval Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 64. Alcuin, a member of Charlemagne's court, may have been responsible for introducing this Irish-Northumbrian feast of All Saints in the Frankish Empire. Adoption of the November 1st feast might also have been driven by Irish missionaries, and there were Irish clerics and scholars at Charlemagne's court as well.
James Frazer represents this school of thought by arguing that November 1 was chosen because Samhain was the date of the Celtic festival of the dead. Ronald Hutton argues instead that the earliest documentary sources indicate Samhain was a harvest festival with no particular ritual connections to the dead. Hutton proposes that November 1 was a Germanic rather than a Celtic idea.
In 835, Charlemagne's son and successor, Emperor Louis the Pious, made All Saints' Day on November 1, a holy day of obligation throughout the Frankish Empire. His decree was issued "at the instance of Pope Gregory IV and with the assent of all the bishops", confirming the November 1st date.
Sicard of Cremona, a scholar who lived in the 12th and 13th centuries, proposed that Pope Gregory VII (1073–85) suppressed the May 13th date in favour of 1 November. By the 12th century, the May 13th feast of All Saints had been deleted from liturgical books.
The All Saints octave was added by Pope Sixtus IV (1471–84).
Roman Catholic observances In the Catholic Church, All Saints' Day is a holy day of obligation. It is celebrated through the offering of the Mass and families visit graveyards through the season of Allhallowtide, especially on All Hallow's Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. In 1955, the All Saints vigil and the octave were suppressed by the Liturgical reforms of Pope Pius XII, though Traditional Catholic communities, such as the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, continue to observe it.
Evangelical Lutheran observances
The festival was retained after the Reformation in the liturgical calendars of the Evangelical-Lutheran Churches. In the Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden, it assumes a role of general commemoration of the dead, though a special emphasis is placed on the martyrs for the faith (cf. Saints of Evangelical-Lutheranism). All Saints Day is a public holiday in Evangelical Lutheran countries, such as Sweden and Finland. In some Lutheran congregations, its observance is moved to the first Sunday of November. In the Lutheran churches, the liturgical color for All Saints Day is white and Mass is offered on All Saints Day. The festival honors the saints of Evangelical-Lutheran Christianity, in addition to all those who have died in the Christian faith (the 'faithful departed'), though in certain congregations, the latter is given more emphasis on the following day, All Souls' Day. As such, in the Evangelical Lutheran tradition, the faithful "rejoice in the confession of martyrs unto death on All Saints, and in all the faithful departed, who are in the Church Triumphant, on All Souls." In some places, the names of those within the congregation who have died in the last year are read during worship and each name is marked with the tolling of a bell or the lighting of a candle. The faithful visit cemeteries to place flowers and candles on the graves of their loved ones, along with cleaning them.
Anglican and Methodist observances