Origin of the Solemnity of All Saints

LOCAL NEWS Oct 31, 2025 0 136 Add to Reading List

The origin of the Solemnity of All Saints can be traced back to May 13, 609, when Pope St. Boniface IV brought some 18 chariots to the entrance of a Roman catacomb and escorted the bones of the martyrs to the Pantheon. On that day, the pagan temple dedicated to all the gods of Rome was rededicated as Santa Maria ad Martyres in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the martyrs. Legend has it that when the Christians entered the Pantheon for the first time that day, seven demons fled from inside. This momentous occasion was celebrated on its May 13th anniversary each year until 732, when Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica to All Saints and designated their feast to be commemorated on November 1.

When we say All Saints, that includes Saints ‘known’ - that is, those who the Church has canonized - as well as all those who are ‘unknown’ - those who have come into the joy of the Father but have not been officially recognized as a Saint with a feast day on the liturgical calendar. This would include, hopefully, members of our family and friends who have gone on to their reward.

Dom Prosper Gueranger writes:

Ancient documents referring to this day inform us, that on the Calends (1st) of November, the same eagerness was shown as at Christmas to assist at the holy Sacrifice. However general the Feast was, or rather because of its universality, was it not the special joy of everyone, and the honour of Christian families? Taking a holy pride in the persons whose virtues they handed down to posterity, they considered the heavenly glory of their ancestors, who had perhaps been unknown in the world, to be a higher nobility than any earthly dignity.

Faith was lively in those days, and Christians seized the opportunity of this feast to make amends for the neglect, voluntary or involuntary, suffered during the year by the blessed inscribed on the general Calendar.

The Feast of All Saints is celebrated the day before we piously remember those who have died and still await the day when they will join the company of Saints in Heaven. The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (aka All Souls’ Day) then ushers in an entire month that we dedicate in the Church to praying for the souls in Purgatory. It serves not only as a reminder of the importance of our prayers for their perseverance, but also as a reminder that we, too, will die one day and face judgment. May we all persevere and reach our ultimate goal!

Again, Gueranger:

Earth is so near to heaven today, that the one thought which fills all hearts is happiness. The Friend, the Bridegroom, the divine Brother of Adam's children, comes and sits down among them, and talks of blessedness: "Come to me all you that labour and suffer," sang the Alleluia- Verse, that sweet echo from our fatherland reminding us withal of our exile. And immediately in the Gospel appears the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour. Let us listen to him, teaching us the ways of blessed hope, the holy delights which are at once an assurance and a foretaste of the perfect bliss of heaven.

All you holy men and women, ora pro nobis!