All Saints Day
What is All Saints Day? All Saints Day is celebrated on November 1st and is a time when the Catholic Church and some Protestant churches commemorate all the Saints – canonized or uncanonized. It is a celebration of all men and women in heaven. The eve of All Saints is known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween.
Liturgical Color(s): White
Type of Holiday: Solemnity, Holy Day of Obligation
Celebrates/Symbolizes: All Saints, canonized or uncanonized
Alternate Names: All Hallows, Hallowmas, Halloween
Scriptural References: Mark 12:26-27; Ephesians 6:18; Hebrews 12:1, Revelation 5:8
Almighty ever-living God, by whose gift we venerate in one celebration the merits of all the Saints, bestow on us, we pray, through the prayers of so many intercessors, an abundance of the reconciliation with you for which we earnestly long. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
ALL SOULS DAY
What is All Souls Day? It is when the Church commemorates and prays for the souls in Purgatory, who are undergoing purification before entering heaven. All Souls Day is November 2nd, the day after All Saints Day.
Liturgical Color(s): Black, White, or Violet
Celebrates/Symbolizes: All the faithful departed
Alternate Names: Commemoration of the Faithful Departed; Commemoratio omnium Fidelium Defunctorum
Scriptural References: 2 Maccabees 12:44-45; Matthew 12:31-32; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15; 2 Timothy 1:16-18; 1 Peter 3:18-20
"All Souls’ Day, in Roman Catholicism, a day for the commemoration of all the faithful departed, those baptized Christians who are believed to be in purgatory because they died with the guilt of lesser sins on their souls... Roman Catholic doctrine holds that the prayers of the faithful on earth will help cleanse these souls in order to fit them for the vision of God in heaven, and the day is dedicated to prayer and remembrance."
This is the traditional prayer of the Church for the dead:
Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.
From: mycatholic kids, Britannica, and Catholic culture
