By Jacqueline Kelly –
November 1, is celebrated as the feast of All Saints’ Day. It is an old feast. It is a special feast day on which Catholics celebrate all the Saints, known and unknown. The day is dedicated to the Saints of the Church, that is, all those who have attained heaven.
It arose out of the Christian tradition of celebrating the martyrdom of saints on the anniversary of their martyrdom. When martyrdoms increased during the persecutions of the late Roman Empire, local dioceses instituted a common feast in order to ensure that all martyrs, known and unknown, were properly honoured.
The origin of All Saints’ Day cannot be traced with certainty, and it has been observed on various days in different places. All Saints’ Day is meant to honour all the official church saints, but, especially those without a special holiday of their own and it is a Solemn Holy Day of the Catholic Church celebrated annually on November 1.
The current date of November 1, was instituted by Pope Gregory III [731-741] when he consecrated a chapel to all the martyrs in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Pope Gregory III ordered his priests to celebrate the feast of All Saints’ annually. This celebration was originally confined to the diocese of Rome, but Pope Gregory IV [827-844] extended the feast to the entire church and ordered it to be celebrated on November 1.
In England, the traditional name for All Saints’ Day was All Hallows Day. [A Hallow was a saint or holy person]. The eve of the feast, October 31, is still commonly known as All Hallows Eve or Halloween.
All Saints’ Day tend to focus on known saints, that is, those recognized in the Canon of the Saints by the Catholic Church. All Saints’ Day is a Catholic Holy Day of obligation. All Catholics are required to attend Mass on that day.
Catholics all over the world pray to their patron saints or to saints to intercede to God to heal them or for their favours to be granted. These holy men and women have changed the course of history. Saints are an important part of our lives in faith formation and tradition.
Just as we may ask an acquaintance or a friend to pray for us, so, we may ask one of the saints. Together, with the saints we are all members of God’s family. This is partly expressed by the phrase, “Communion of Saints”. The Church’s Prayer Book, the Missal asks us to use the Litany of the Saints on certain important occasions. For e.g. at the Paschal Vigil [the most important Mass of the year] and at the Ordination and Consecration of Priests and Bishops. We may well want to ask the saint after whom we have been named, to pray for us.
Saints are men and women from all walks of life, people just like us, who remained faithful to God and trusted in His promises and lived a life of holiness and virtue, following Christ’s call to be “perfect just as the Heavenly Father is perfect”. Some of them led lives of extraordinary sanctity. A few of these the Church recognizes as Canonized Saints so that they can be special examples to the rest of us and so that we can be encouraged to pray to them for help. But, most of them lived and died with no recognition from anyone but God whom they worshipped in the purity of their hearts.
“Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” [Mt 5:8]. It is fitting for us to praise and thank God for the graces and privileges he has bestowed upon his angels and saints.
The Church militant on earth is linked through Christ’s resurrection with the Church triumphant in heaven. We ask their help in our earthly pilgrimage, so that we too one day may share their glory and destiny. We pray especially for the intercession of the saint whose patron name was given to us in Baptism. We have to thank God for the saints of all ages, for those who in times of darkness kept the lamp of faith burning.
According to Pope Francis, ‘Saints risk everything to put the Gospel into practice.”
Can God communicate to Saints the power to work miracles?
- Yes, God is all-powerful. In fact, when a miracle is performed, it is always God who performs it at the request of a saint.
- Miracles are phenomena which interrupt the laws of nature and surpass the force of all natural causes.
- The Acts of Beatification may be taken as a guarantee of their evidence. Miracles help to retain the faith and belief in the people of God significantly as seen when thousands of pilgrims visit places where miracles have materialized. Many souls are delivered on the Feast Day of Great Saints.
- Novenas are often made for special intentions, one’s own or another’s. Novenas to certain saints are often made according to their patronage. For e.g. Saint Peregrine, Patron of cancer patients.
- Saint Padre Pio, Patron of the suffering, etc. People all over the world can bear witness to the graces and blessings they have received through the practice of praying the novenas to their saints.
- These novena prayers lead us to greater faith and trust in God, the Blessed Mother and the Saints.
- We have to introduce our children from young age to these Holy men and women who suffered to be closer to God.