All Saints' Day

The scope of All Saints' Day includes all those officially recognized as saints and those whose cause for canonization has not yet been completed, like Venerable Matt Talbot.

 It also includes those whose holy lives were known only to God as well as their family, friends or religious communities.

 

Who is Included in Solemnity of All Saints or All Saint’s Day?

"The scope of the feast includes all those officially recognised as saints and those whose cause for canonisation has not yet been completed, like Matt Talbot and Cardinal Newman.
 
But it also includes those whose holy lives were known only to their family, friends or religious communities."

Note: Since the entire original article was published five years ago (and appears again today without updating) at  https://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/the-solemnity-of-all-saints/.  The Irish Martyrs were previously beatified, Cardinal Newman is now Blessed John Henry Newman, and Pope John XXIII is now St. John XXIII.

Dare to be more

Although Venerable Matt Talbot has not been officially declared a saint yet by the Church, his desire and actions to turn his life around after descending to a virtual hell on earth of alcoholism is a testament to the power of God’s love, grace and mercy in all our lives. 
While Matt is not mentioned as an example in this homily for All Saints Day (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2013/10/homily-for-november-1-2013-all-saints-day/), he certainly was one who “dared to be more.”  Do each of us?

For one introductory source about this special day, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints%27_Day

Who are your Holy Traveling Companions?

On this All Saints’ Day (officially the Solemnity of All Saints) we might consider an excerpt that Pope Benedict XVI presented in a general audience 2010:

“There are very dear people in the life of each one of us to whom we feel particularly close, some of whom are already in God's embrace while others still share with us the journey through life: they are our parents, relatives and teachers; they are the people to whom we have done good or from whom we have received good; they are people on whom we know we can count. Yet it is important also to have "travelling companions" on the journey of our Christian life. I am thinking of a Spiritual Director, a Confessor, of people with whom it is possible to share one's own faith experience, but I am also thinking of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. Everyone must have some Saint with whom he or she is on familiar terms, to feel close to with prayer and intercession but also to emulate. I would therefore like to ask you to become better acquainted with the Saints, starting with those you are called after, by reading their life and their writings. You may rest assured that they will become good guides in order to love the Lord even more and will contribute effective help for your human and Christian development...” (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100825_en.html#)

Fr. Robert Barron’s sermon for this Holy Day of Obligation addresses, in part, “the panoply of saints, both those who are similar to us and those who bring out the parts of us that are 'in shadow.' He speaks of how making those complementary saints our friends can help sanctify this shadow side." Listen to the sermon here. 

(Fr. Barron is the author of Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith (2011) and the outstanding video series (2012).) 

Is Venerable Matt Talbot one of your traveling companions?

 

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All Saints Day

November 1

This solemnity or feast of All Saints Day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in heaven, while the next day, All Souls' Day, commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven. Both feasts have taken on some of the characteristics of the Celtic winter feast of "Samhain", as reflected in the customs of Halloween.

Eastern origin
The feast of All Souls is probably of Eastern origin. In the early centuries Christians celebrated the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the early fourth century, following the persecution of Diocletian, martyrs became so many that a separate day could not be assigned to each and the Church assigned a common day for all, celebrated in the East on the first Sunday after Pentecost: Homilies for the feast by St Ephrem the Syrian (373) and St John Chrysostom (407) are extant.

Development in Rome
In the West the Byzantine emperor Phocas (602-610) handed over to Pope Boniface IV (608-615) the Pantheon, originally built as a temple to all the Roman gods. On 13 May 610, Pope Boniface dedicated it as a church to St Mary and all the martyrs. But the anniversary was fixed for 1 November by Pope Gregory III (731-741) who consecrated a chapel to all the saints in St Peter's Basilica.

Ireland and England
The 9th century Irish Martyrology of Aengus (828-833) has a feast for All Saints on 1 November. The feast became known in England and Ireland as All Hallow's from which we get Halloween (the evening before All Hallows). It also took on some of the characteristics of the Celtic feast of Samhain. (See Féile na Samhna: an bhunchiall)

Who is included?
The scope of the feast includes all those officially recognised as saints, those whose cause for canonisation has not yet been completed, like Matt Talbot, the Irish Martyrs, Cardinal Newman and Pope John XXIII. But it also includes those whose holy lives were known only to their family, friends or religious communities. Chapter V of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium of Vatican II is entitled The Call to Holiness and insists that the "all Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love" (LG 40).

Source: http://www.catholicireland.net/pages/index.php?nd=382&art=1882