All Souls' Day

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This article is about the Christian religious holiday. For the 2005 film, see All Souls Day (film). For the Chinese holiday, see Qingming Festival.

All Souls' Day
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All Souls' Day by William Bouguereau
Official name	Commemoratio omnium Fidelium Defunctorum
Also called	Feast of All Souls; Defuncts' Day
Observed by	Western Christians
Type	Christian
Date	November 2
Related to	All Saints Day

All Souls' Day (also the Feast of All Souls, Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, (from the Latin Commemoratio omnium Fidelium Defunctorum), also called Defuncts' Day in Mexico and Belgium, or Day of the Dead in Italy, is the day set apart in Western Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church but to some extent also among Protestants, for the commemoration of the faithful departed. The celebration is based on the doctrine that the souls of the faithful which at death have not been cleansed from venial sins, or have not atoned for past transgressions, cannot attain the beatific vision yet, and that they may be helped to do so by prayer and by the sacrifice of the Mass.

The feast falls on November 2 and follows All Saints Day. Since the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council the feast is celebrated on November 2 even in years when that date falls on a Sunday. In the traditional Latin rite, the observance is transferred to Monday, November 3 if November 2 is a Sunday, as black vestments are never permitted on Sundays.

1 Christian origin
2 Protestantism
3 Pagan roots
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Christian origin

The custom of setting apart a special day for intercession for certain of the faithful departed is very old. But the first feast of general intercession was first established by St. Odilo of Cluny (d. 1048). The legend is given by Pietro Damiani in his Life of St Odilo. According to this, a pilgrim returning from the Holy Land was cast by a storm on a desolate island. A hermit living there told him that amid the rocks was a chasm communicating with purgatory, from which perpetually rose the groans of tortured souls. The hermit also claimed he had heard the demons complaining of the efficacy of the prayers of the faithful, and especially the monks of Cluny, in rescuing their victims. Upon returning home, the pilgrim hastened to inform the abbot of Cluny, who then set 2 November as a day of intercession on the part of his community for all the souls in purgatory. The decree ordaining the celebration is printed in the Bollandist Acta Sanctorum (Saec. VI, pt. i. p. 585). From Cluny the custom spread to the other houses of the Cluniac order, was soon adopted in several dioceses in France, and spread throughout the Western Church. In time the entire month of November became associated with prayer for the departed in the Western Catholic tradition. Nonetheless the 2 November retained a special status as a day set apart for that purpose.

[edit] Protestantism

At the Reformation the celebration of All Souls' Day was fused with All Saints' Day in the Anglican Church, though it was renewed individually in certain churches in connection with the Catholic Revival of the 19th century. The observance was restored 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)".

Among continental Protestants its tradition has been more tenaciously maintained. Even Luther's influence was not sufficient to abolish its celebration in Saxony during his lifetime; and, though its Ecclesiastical sanction soon lapsed even in the Lutheran Church, its memory survives strongly in popular custom. 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 people stream to the graveyards once a year with offerings of flowers.

[edit] Pagan roots

Certain popular beliefs connected with All Souls' Day are of pagan origin and immemorial antiquity. Thus the dead are believed by the peasantry of many Catholic countries to return to their former homes on All Souls' Night and partake of the food of the living. ^{[citation needed]} In Tyrol, 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. Some claim that the food is gone or partially consumed in the morning.