What you need to know about All Saints’ Day, the Christian holiday

As October draws to a close, religious groups around the world are preparing to celebrate the saints, some widely known and others more personal.

The Christian holiday of All Saints falls on November 1 every year. It is considered a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church, said Monsignor Walter Rossi, rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

“The obligation means that we must participate in Mass that day as Roman Catholics,” Rossi told USA TODAY. “We honor those who have gone before us and whom the Church considers saints.”

These people eventually became saints and led lives that religious groups hope to imitate, he said. To celebrate this, religious groups will gather for Mass and offer an intercession, asking the saints to pray on their behalf.

The Rev. Emmanuel Sanchez is pastor at Resurrection Catholic Church, part of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He sometimes thinks of All Saints’ Day as a “triduum at the other end of the year,” because it is one of three consecutive holidays celebrated each year.

These holidays include:

All Hallows Eve (October 31) – Some people dress up as saints and also attend mass. The holiday evolved into Halloween as we know it today.
All Saints Day (November 1) – People attend mass, pray and sing, and visit shrines and tombs of saints.
All souls day (November 2) – People pray for those who have died and ask the saints to help them on their path to heaven. People often bring flowers and candles to their graves.

Below you can read more about All Saints’ Day and how it came about.

All Saints’ Day dates back to the third or fourth century

In the year 610, the emperor of Rome gave the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV, Rossi said. The Pope then dedicated the Pantheon to Mary, the Blessed Mother and martyrs. That’s how All Saints’ Day got its formal beginnings, Rossi said, but All Saints’ Day can be traced back to at least the third and fourth centuries.

All Saints’ Day as it is known today began in 735 when Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica in honor of all the saints. The chapel was intended to house relics of the martyrs and apostles, Rossi said.

“(All Saints’ Day today) honors all the saints in the entire Church, and it was that same Pope Gregory who ultimately designated November 1 as the feast day of all the saints in the entire Church, and also made it a holy day of obligation, Rossi said.

Sanchez, of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said Pope Gregory III established November 1 as All Saints’ Day, as a reminder that people are destined not only for life on earth, but also in heaven. He said that recognizing the saints on All Saints’ Day is a reminder that this life is temporary and continues after death.

“We…focus on our future lives as people who now rest in the peace of God,” Sanchez told USA TODAY.

How do people celebrate All Saints’ Day?

In addition to attending Mass on All Saints’ Day, some people dress up as the saints, said Rossi, of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

“The consistent practice has always been to pray and invoke the intercession of the saints,” Rossi told USA TODAY. “Another custom would be to visit the grave of the saints on that day and bring flowers.”

Because there are only 13 American saints, there aren’t many locations to visit on All Saints’ Day, Rossi said. However, some of the places people visit include the National Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel in Philadelphia, the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City, and the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Rossi added that it is important to honor the saints because they are “powerful intercessors” who can help believers by praying for them.

“They help us on our journey through life to heaven, and their example gives us an example of how we should live,” Rossi said. “It is important to also remember that the saints were not born saints. They were people like us. They became saints by the example of their virtuous lives. We too can become saints.”

All Saints’ Day is a day to recognize ‘known and unknown’ saints

Julia Campagna, director of Mission & Campus Ministry at the University of Maryland Notre Dame, said religion largely revolves around one question: “What happens to us when we die?”

While All Saints’ Day was initially a way to honor martyrs who died in the name of religion and well-known saints such as St. John and St. Peter, some people have come to recognize in their own lives those who lived in “real life.” pious ways,” Campagna said.

Who people honor on All Saints’ Day has grown as the church has grown, she said.

“Today we remember All Saints’ Day (recognizing) that anyone can be a saint,” she said. “We talk about the saints, known and unknown, named and unnamed.”

At Notre Dame of Maryland, community members from many religious backgrounds attend Mass because it is a shared holiday, she said. The university collects names and photos of saints in people’s lives and then hangs the names in the chapel.

“That could be someone’s grandmother,” she said, adding that people can recognize people who have lived their lives in a way they want to follow.

There is also a community of saints, which is the recognition that individuals cannot do anything alone, she said.

“The people who came before us and the people who will come after us, we are deeply connected,” she said. “We are deeply connected. For Catholics and many Christians, the opportunity, the invitation to do that as a practice once a year, as a community together in real life, gets us through the rest of the year.”

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her [email protected].