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All Saints Day -
November 1.
All Saints Day is a
Solemnity celebrated on the first of November. It is instituted to
honor all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Urban IV,
to supply any deficiencies in the faithful's celebration of saints'
feasts during the year.
In the early days the Christians were accustomed to solemnize the
anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ at the place of
martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighboring dioceses began to
interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join
in a common feast; as is shown by the invitation of St. Basil of
Caesarea (397) to the bishops of the province of Pontus. Frequently
groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a
joint commemoration. In the persecution of Diocletian the number of
martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to
each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated,
appointed a common day for all. The first trace of this we find in
Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. We also find mention of a
common day in a sermon of St. Ephrem the Syrian (373), and in the
74th homily of St. John Chrysostom (407). At first only martyrs and
St. John the Baptist were honored by a special day. Other saints
were added gradually, and increased in number when a regular process
of canonization was established; still, as early as 411 there is in
the Chaldean Calendar a "Commemoratio Confessorum" for the Friday
after Easter. In the West Boniface IV, 13 May, 609, or 610,
consecrated the Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the
martyrs, ordering an anniversary. Gregory III (731-741) consecrated
a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed
the anniversary for 1 November. A basilica of the Apostles already
existed in Rome, and its dedication was annually remembered on 1
May. Gregory IV (827-844) extended the celebration on 1 November to
the entire Church. The vigil seems to have been held as early as the
feast itself. The octave was added by Sixtus IV (1471-84).
Source:
Catholic Encyclopedia |
