† All Saints’ Day † (November 1)

† Feast of the Day †

(November 1)

✠ All Saints’ Day ✠

Also called: All Hallows Day, Solemnity/Feast of All Saints

Observed by:
Catholic Church of Roman Rite
Eastern Orthodox Church
Lutheran Churches
Anglican Communion
Methodist Churches
Reformed Churches
Other Christian denominations

Feast Day: November 1

All Saints Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, Hallowmas, Feast of All Saints, or Solemnity of All Saints, is a Christian festival celebrated in honour of all the saints, known and unknown. In Western Christianity, it is celebrated on November 1 by the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Methodist Church, the Lutheran Church, the Reformed Church, and other Protestant churches. The Eastern Orthodox Church and associated Eastern Catholic Churches and Byzantine Lutheran Churches celebrate it on the first Sunday after Pentecost. Oriental Orthodox churches of Chaldea and associated Eastern Catholic churches celebrate All Saints' Day on the first Friday after Easter.

Comments:
What is the object of the All Saints Day? It is the veneration of all souls that are in Heaven, even if they are not officially canonized or beatified. Anyone who is in Heaven is a holy person. He or she is in the presence of God, sees God face-to-face, and is entirely pleasing to God.

Since it is impossible to know all these persons, whose number is uncountable, the Catholic Church cannot properly honor each one of these Saints by offering them a formal homage as she does with the canonized Saints. So, she instituted the feast of All Saints, a day on which she venerates them all.

It is good to pray to all these souls and ask for their protection. There are, however, some of them – whose names we do not know – who have a special relation to our counter-revolutionary fight. Who are these souls? I will give you a sample list that you can add to as you will.

How many crusaders died unknown fighting for the liberation of the Holy Land from Muslim domination and went to Heaven? How many Catholics died fighting in Spain and Portugal during the war of the Reconquista? How many crusaders died fighting to conquer the pagan peoples of Northern Europe? All these were souls who understood in a special way the splendor of placing their force of arms at the service of the Faith, of sacrificing everything, including their own lives, for the victory of the Catholic Church.

There were souls like these who died in the Vendée in France and in the Calista uprising in Spain. Also the San Credistas who fought against the Revolution in South Naples; the Pontifical Zouaves who heroically fought and died to keep the Papal States from falling into the hands of the partisans of Garibaldi; the Cristeros in Mexico, and so on. They are our brother souls who are in Heaven praying for those who continue their fight against the Revolution on earth.

Then there were those glorious ecclesiastics who fought against Freemasonry. I remember with special admiration Dom Vital Maria Gonçalves de Oliveira, Bishop of Olinda and Recife in Northeast Brazil, who forcefully combated Masonry, one of the most diabolic and dynamic agents of the Revolution. Also Msgr. Henri Delassus who wrote his famous La conjuration anti-chrétienne against Judaism and Masonry. They and many others spent their lives fighting against Masonry and were persecuted, oppressed, and some of them even murdered. They also are our brother souls.

We cannot forget the cherished members of our families who preceded us in signum Fidei, in the sign of the Faith and gained their eternal salvation. They are our special intercessors who love us and want to bring us ever closer to God to save our souls and be with them in Heaven. St. Therese of Lisieux had a beautiful veneration for her brothers who had died before the use of reason. She used to say that they were the saints of their family. Her family soon would produce a much greater saint, St. Therese herself.

We should pray especially to all these Saints on this feast day of theirs since they are particularly open to hearing us. We should ask them to help us accomplish on earth the vocation God gave us, and after that, to be with Him, Our Lady, and them in eternal glory.
~ Late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira