All Souls' Day

All Souls' Day, also known as the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed and the Day of the Dead, is a day of prayer and remembrance for the souls of those who have died, which is observed by Catholics and other Christian denominations annually on November 2. All Souls' Day is often celebrated in Western Christianity; Saturday of Souls is a related tradition more frequently observed in Eastern Christianity. Practitioners of All Souls' Day traditions often remember deceased loved ones in various ways on the day.[2][3] Beliefs and practices associated with All Souls' Day vary widely among Christian denominations.

This article is about the Christian holiday. For the 1998 novel, see All Souls' Day (novel). For the 2005 film, see All Souls Day (film).
"Holy Souls" redirects here. For other uses, see Holy Souls (disambiguation).
"Faithful Departed" redirects here. For the Cranberries album, see To the Faithful Departed.

All Souls' Day
All Souls' Day by William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Also calledFeast of All Souls; Defuncts' Day; Day of Remembrance; Commemoration of all the faithful departed
Observed byCatholicism
Eastern Orthodoxy
Lutheranism
Anglicanism
Methodism
Other Protestant denominations
Liturgical ColorViolet/purple or, where customary, black[1]
TypeChristian
SignificanceFor the souls of all who have passed away
ObservancesPrayer for the departed, visits to cemeteries, special meals
DateNovember 2
Frequencyannual
Related toSaturday of Souls, Thursday of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Halloween, All Saints' Day, Samhain, Totensonntag, Blue Christmas

The annual celebration is the last day of Allhallowtide, after All Saints' Day and its eve.[4] Prior to the standardization of Catholic observance on 2 November by St. Odlio of Cluny during the 10th century, many Catholic congregations celebrated All Souls Day on various dates during the Easter season as it is still observed in some Eastern Orthodox Church and associated Eastern Catholic Churches. Churches of the East Syriac Rite (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East) commemorate all the faithful departed on the Friday before Lent.

Many All Souls' Day traditions are associated with popular notions about purgatory. Bell tolling is meant to comfort those being cleansed. Lighting candles serves to kindle a light for the poor souls languishing in the darkness. Soul cakes are given to children coming to sing or pray for the dead (cf. trick-or-treating), giving rise to the traditions of "going souling" and the baking of special types of bread or cakes (cf. Pão-por-Deus).[5]

Europe

In Tirol, 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.[6]

In Malta, on All Souls' Day (known in Maltese as Jum il-Mejtin), a traditional supper includes roasted pig, based on a custom of letting a pig loose on the streets with a bell around its neck, to be fed by the entire neighborhood and cooked on that day to feed the poor.[7]

In Linz, funereal musical pieces known as aequales were played from tower tops on All Souls' Day and the evening before.[8]

Philippines
Main article: All Saints' Day § Philippines

In the Philippines, Hallow mas is variously called "Undás", "Todos los Santos" (Spanish, "All Saints"), and sometimes "Araw ng mga Patay / Yumao" (Tagalog, "Day of the dead / those who have passed away"), which incorporates All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Filipinos traditionally observe this day by visiting the family dead to clean and repair their tombs. Offerings of prayers, flowers, candles,[9] and food. Chinese Filipinos additionally burn incense and kim. Many also spend the day and ensuing night holding reunions at the cemetery with feasts and merriment.

Religious observance by denomination

Byzantine (Greek) Catholic and the Eastern Orthodoxy
Main article: Saturday of Souls
Kollyva offerings of boiled wheat blessed liturgically on Soul Saturday (Psychosabbaton).

Saturday of Souls (or Soul Saturday) is a day set aside for the commemoration of the dead within the liturgical year of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches. Saturday is a traditional day of prayer for the dead, because Christ lay dead in the Tomb on Saturday.[10]

These days are devoted to prayer for departed relatives and others among the faithful who would not be commemorated specifically as saints. The Divine Services on these days have special hymns added to them to commemorate the departed. There is oftena Panikhida (Memorial Service) either after the Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning or after Vespers on Friday evening, for which Koliva (a dish made of boiled wheatberries or rice and honey) is prepared and placed on the Panikhida table. After the Service, the priest blesses the Koliva. It is then eaten as a memorial by all present.[11]

Radonitsa
Main article: Radonitsa

Another Memorial Day in the East, Radonitsa, does not fall on a Saturday, but on either Monday or Tuesday of the second week after Pascha (Easter).[12][13] Radonitsa does not have special hymns for the dead at the Divine Services. Instead a Panikhida will follow the Divine Liturgy, and then all will bring paschal foods to the cemeteries to greet the departed with the joy of the Resurrection.[12]

East Syriac tradition

East Syriac churches including the Syro Malabar Church and Chaldean Catholic Church commemorates the feast of departed faithful on the last Friday of Epiphany season (which means Friday just before start of Great Lent).[14] The season of Epiphany remembers the revelation of Christ to the world. Each Friday of Epiphany season, the church remembers important evangelistic figures.[15]

In the Syro Malabar Church, the Friday before the parish festival is also celebrated as feast of departed faithful when the parish remembers the activities of forebearers who worked for the parish and faithful. They also request the intercession of all departed souls for the faithful celebration of parish festival. In East Syriac liturgy, the church remembers departed souls including saints on every Friday throughout the year since the Christ was crucified and died on Friday.

Western Catholicism
All Souls' Day, painting by Jakub Schikaneder, 1888

Background

In the Catholic Church, "the faithful" refers specifically to baptized Catholics; "all souls" commemorates the church penitent of souls in purgatory, whereas "all saints" commemorates the church triumphant of saints in Heaven. In the liturgical books of the western Catholic Church (the Latin Church) it is called the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (Latin: Commemoratio omnium fidelium defunctorum), and is celebrated annually on 2 November. In the ordinary form of the Roman Rite, as well as in the Personal Ordinariates established by Benedict XVI for former Anglicans, it remains on 2 November if this date falls on a Sunday;[16][17] in the 1962–1969 form of the Roman Rite, use of which is still authorized, it is transferred to Monday, 3 November.[18] On this day in particular, Catholics pray for the dead.[19] Every priest is allowed to celebrate three holy masses on All Souls' Day. The Catholic Church teaches that the purification of the souls in purgatory can be assisted by the actions of the faithful on earth. Its teaching is based also on the practice of prayer for the dead mentioned as far back as 2 Maccabees 12:42–46.[20] In the West there is ample evidence of the custom of praying for the dead in the inscriptions of the catacombs, with their constant prayers for the peace of the souls of the departed and in the early liturgies, which commonly contain commemorations of the dead. Tertullian, Cyprian and other early Western Fathers witness to the regular practice of praying for the dead among the early Christians.[21] The theological basis for the feast is the doctrine that the souls which, on departing from the body, are not perfectly cleansed from venial sins, or have not fully atoned for past transgressions, are debarred from the Beatific Vision, and that the faithful on earth can help them by prayers, alms deeds and especially by the sacrifice of the Mass.[22]

History

In the sixth century, it was customary in Benedictine monasteries to hold a commemoration of the deceased members at Whitsuntide. In the time of St. Isidore of Seville (d. 636) who lived in what is today Spain, the Monday after Pentecost was designated to remember the deceased. At the beginning of the ninth century, Abbot Eigil of Fulda set 17 December as commemoration of all deceased in part of what is today Germany.[23]

According to Widukind of Corvey (c. 975), there also existed a ceremony praying for the dead on 1 October in Saxony.[22] But it was the day after All Saints' Day that Saint Odilo of Cluny chose when in the 11th century he instituted for all the monasteries dependent on the Abbey of Cluny an annual commemoration of all the faithful departed, to be observed with alms, prayers, and sacrifices for the relief of the suffering souls in purgatory.[24] Odilo decreed that those requesting a Mass be offered for the departed should make an offering for the poor, thus linking almsgiving with fasting and prayer for the dead.

The 2 November date and customs spread from the Cluniac monasteries to other Benedictine monasteries and thence to the Western Church in general.[25] The Diocese of Liège was the first diocese to adopt the practice under Bishop Notger (d. 1008).[22] 2 November was adopted in Italy and Rome in the thirteenth century.[23]

In the 15th century the Dominicans instituted a custom of each priest offering three Masses on the Feast of All Souls. During World War I, given the great number of war dead and the many destroyed churches where mass could no longer be said, Pope Benedict XV, granted all priests the privilege of offering three Masses on All Souls Day,[26] a permission that still stands.

Liturgical practice

In the Roman Rite as revised in 1969, if 2 November falls on a Sunday, the Mass is of All Souls, but the Liturgy of the Hours is that of the Sunday. However, public celebration of Lauds and Vespers of the Dead with the people participating is permitted. While celebration of a Sunday, a solemnity or a feast of the Lord replacing a Sunday begins on the previous evening with Vespers and perhaps evening Mass, the general norms do not allow for anticipation on Saturday evening of the liturgy of All Souls' Day falling on a Sunday, and so they suggest that the formula of the Mass on that Saturday evening is that of the solemnity of All Saints, which outranks the Sunday of Ordinary Time whose Mass would be celebrated on that evening.[25][27] However, in 2014, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops decided that for that year the Saturday evening (Sunday vigil) Mass in that country was to be that of All Souls; in countries such as Italy the situation was less clear.[28]

In countries where All Saints' Day is not a holy day of obligation attendance at an evening Mass of All Saints on Saturday 1 November satisfies the Sunday obligation.[25] In England and Wales, where holy days of obligation that fall on a Saturday are transferred to the following day, if 2 November is a Sunday, the solemnity of All Saints is transferred to that date, and All Souls Day is transferred to 3 November.[28] In pre-1970 forms of the Roman Rite, still observed by some, if All Souls Day falls on a Sunday, it is always transferred to 3 November.

In Divine Worship: The Missal the minor propers (Introit, Gradual, Tract, Sequence, Offertory, and Communion) are those used for Renaissance and Classical musical requiem settings, including the Dies Irae. This permits the performance of traditional requiem settings in the context of the Divine Worship Form of the Roman Rite on All Souls Day as well as at funerals, votive celebrations of all faithful departed, and anniversaries of deaths.[29]

All Souls' indulgence

According to The Enchiridion of Indulgences, An indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory (commonly called the poor souls), is granted to the faithful, who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray for the departed. The indulgence is plenary, under the usual conditions, each day from the first to the eighth of November; a partial indulgence is granted on any other days of the year.[30] "A plenary indulgence, applicable ONLY to the souls in purgatory, may be obtained by those who, on All Souls Day, piously visit a church, public oratory, or - for those entitled to use it, a semi public oratory. It may be acquired either on the day designated as All Souls Day or, with the consent of the bishop, on the preceding or following Sunday or the feast of All Saints. On visiting the church or oratory it is required that one Our Father and the Creed be recited."[31][30]

Lutheran Churches
A graveyard outside a Lutheran church in the Swedish city of Röke during Allhallowtide

Among continental Protestants its tradition has been more tenaciously maintained. During Luther's lifetime, All Souls' Day was widely observed in Saxony although the Roman Catholic meaning of the day was discarded;[6] ecclesiastically in the Lutheran Church, the day was merged with, and is often seen as an extension of All Saints' Day, with many Lutherans still visiting and decorating graves on all the days of Allhallowtide, including All Souls' Day.[32] 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,[6] Polish and Hungarian people stream to the graveyards once a year with offerings of flowers and special grave lights. Among Czech people the custom of visiting and tidying graves of relatives on the day is quite common. In 1816, Prussia introduced a new date for the remembrance of the Dead among its Lutheran citizens: Totensonntag, the last Sunday before Advent. This custom was later also adopted by the non-Prussian Lutherans in Germany, but it has not spread much beyond the Protestant areas of Germany.

Anglican Communion
All Souls Anglican Church in the Diocese of Sydney, a parish dedicated to All Souls

In the Church of England it is called The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed and is an optional celebration; Anglicans view All Souls' Day as an extension of the observance of All Saints' Day and it serves to "remember those who have died", in connection with the theological doctrines of the resurrection of the body and the Communion of Saints.[33][34]

In the Anglican Communion, All Souls' Day is known liturgically as the Commemoration of All Faithful Departed, and is an optional observance seen as "an extension of All Saints' Day", the latter of which marks the second day of Allhallowtide.[34][35] Historically and at present, several Anglican churches are dedicated to All Souls. During the English Reformation, the observance of All Souls' Day lapsed, although a new Anglican theological understanding of the day has "led to a widespread acceptance of this commemoration among Anglicans".[36] Patricia Bays, with regard to the Anglican view of All Souls' Day, wrote that:[33]

All Souls Day (November 2) is a time when we particularly remember those who have died. The prayers appointed for that day remind us that we are joined with the Communion of Saints, that great group of Christians who have finished their earthly life and with who we share the hope of resurrection from the dead.

— Bays & Hancock 2012, p. 128

As such, Anglican parishes "now commemorate all the faithful departed in the context of the All Saints' Day celebration", in keeping with this fresh perspective.[34] Contributing to the revival was the need "to help Anglicans mourn the deaths of millions of soldiers in World War I".[37] Members of the Guild of All Souls, an Anglican devotional society founded in 1873, "are encouraged to pray for the dying and the dead, to participate in a requiem of All Souls' Day and say a Litany of the Faithful Departed at least once a month".[38]

At the Reformation the celebration of All Souls' Day was fused with All Saints' Day in the Church of England[39] or, in the judgement of some, it was "deservedly abrogated".[40] It was reinstated in certain parishes in connection with the Oxford Movement of the 19th century[39] and is acknowledged in United States Anglicanism in the Holy Women, Holy Men calendar[39] and in the Church of England with the 1980 Alternative Service Book. It features in Common Worship as a Lesser Festival called "Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day)".

Methodist Churches

In the Methodist Church, saints refer to all Christians and therefore, on All Saint's Day, the Church Universal, as well as the deceased members of a local congregation are honoured and remembered.[41][42] In Methodist congregations that celebrate the liturgy on All Souls Day, the observance, as with Anglicanism and Lutheranism, is viewed as an extension of All Saints' Day and as such, Methodists "remember our loved ones who had died" in their observance of this feast.[43]

See also

References

Citations
  1. General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 346
  2. Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 42.
  3. Ball 2003, p. 33: All Souls' Day: The annual commemoration of all the faithful departed, 2 November.
  4. Bannatyne 1998, p. 12.
  5. Schousboe 2012, pp. 10-13.
  6. Chisholm 1911.
  7. "Maltese traditions to mark All Souls Day at the Inquisitor's Palace". Times of Malta. 27 October 2016.
  8. From sleevenotes, Triton Trombone Quartet: "German Trombone Music"; BIS-CD-644
  9. "All Saints Day around the world". The Guardian. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  10. "Saints and Feasts: Saturday of Souls". www.goarch.org. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  11. Panteleimon of Antinoes (9 March 2013). "Saturday of the Souls". The Orthodox Path. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  12. "The Liturgics of Archbishop Averky". www.holytrinitymission.org. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  13. S. V. Bulgakov, Handbook for Church Servers, 2nd ed., 1274 pp. (Kharkov, 1900), pp. 586-589. Tr. by Archpriest Eugene D. Tarris © 2007.
  14. "Commemoration of the Departed Faithful". Nasrani Foundation.
  15. "Syro Malabar Liturgical Calendar 2016" (PDF). Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Commission for Liturgy.
  16. Roman Missal, "The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed", and "Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar", 59
  17. Divine Worship: The Missal, "Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)", p.871
  18. Missale Romanum 1962, Rubricæ generales, "De dierum liturgicorum occurentia accidentali eorumque translatione", 96b
  19. Bregman 2010, p. 45.
  20. "The Final Purification, or Purgatory". Catechism of the Catholic Church. vatican.va.
  21. Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 459.
  22. Mershman 1907.
  23. MacDonald 1967, p. 119.
  24. Butler 1990, p. 12.
  25. McNamara 2013.
  26. Saunders 2003.
  27. Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, "Table of Liturgical Days"]
  28. McNamara 2014.
  29. Divine Worship: The Missal, pp.871–875 & pp.1024–1032
  30. "The Enchiridion of Indulgences". Catholic Online.
  31. "Enchiridion Indulgentiarum" (in Latin) (4th ed.). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 16 July 1999. N.15. Archived from the original on 14 January 2010.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  32. Markussen 2013, p. 183.
  33. Bays & Hancock 2012, p. 128.
  34. Armentrout & Slocum 1999, p. 7.
  35. Dickison 2014.
  36. Michno 1998, p. 160.
  37. English 2004, p. 4.
  38. Armentrout & Slocum 1999, p. 232.
  39. "All Saints' Day/All Faithful Departed" (PDF). episcopalchurch.org. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. 28 October 2012.
  40. BCP 1850.
  41. Hileman 2003.
  42. Peck 2011.
  43. Sherwood, Colin. "All Souls Day Service". St Andrew`s Methodist Church. Methodist Church of Great Britain. Retrieved 21 September 2015. During our All Souls Day Service on 2nd. November, as we remembered our loved ones who had died, some recently and other longer ago, candles were lit in memory of them and placed on a cairn built in front of the pulpit.

Sources
  • Butler, Alban (1990). "St Odilo, Abbot". In Herbert J. Thurston; Donald Attwater (eds.). Butler's Lives of the Saints. Volume I : January - February - March. Westminster, Maryland: Christian Classics.
  • Hileman, Laura Huff (2003). "What is All Saint's Day?". The Upper Room (United Methodist Church). Archived from the original on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2011. Saints are just people who are trying to listen to God's word and live God's call. This is "the communion of saints" that we speak of in the Apostle's Creed – that fellowship of believers that reaches beyond time and place, even beyond death. Remembering the saints who have helped extend and enliven God's kingdom is what All Saints Day is about.
  • MacDonald, The Most Revd William, ed. (1967). "All Souls' Day". The New Catholic Encyclopedia. The Catholic University of America.
  • Markussen, Anne Kjaersgaard (2013). "Death and the State of Religion in Denmark". In Venbrux, Eric; Quartier, Thomas; Venhorst, Claudia; Mathijssen, Brenda (eds.). Changing European Death Ways. Münster: LIT Verlag. ISBN 978-3-643-90067-8.
  • Peck, The Rev. J. Richard (2011). "Do United Methodists believe in saints?". The United Methodist Church. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2011. We also recognize and celebrate All Saints' Day (1 Nov.) and "all the saints who from their labors rest". United Methodists call people "saints" because they exemplified the Christian life. In this sense, every Christian can be considered a saint.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.