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What you should know about All Saints Day, the Christian holiday

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What you should know about All Saints Day, the Christian holiday

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As October comes 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' Day falls on November 1st 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 DC

“The obligation means that we must attend Mass on that day as Catholics,” Rossi told USA TODAY. “We honor the people who have gone before us and whom the Church considers to be saints.”

These people eventually became saints and lived lives that religious groups hope to emulate, he said. To celebrate it, religious groups gather for mass and hold an intercessory prayer, asking the saints to pray for them.

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

These holidays include:

  • All Saints Eve (Oct. 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 saints' tombs.
  • All Souls Day (November 2) – People pray for the departed and ask the saints to help them on their way to heaven. People often bring flowers and candles to their graves.

Learn more about All Saints Day and how it came to be below.

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

In 610, the emperor of Rome gave the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV, Rossi said. The Pope then consecrated the Pantheon to Mary, Mother of God and Martyr. This is how All Saints' Day got its official beginning, Rossi said, but All Saints' Day can be traced back to at least the third and fourth centuries.

Today's All Saints Day began in 735, when Pope Gregory III. consecrated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica in honor of all the saints. The chapel should house relics of the martyrs and apostles, Rossi said.

“(All Saints Day) honors all saints throughout the Church, and it was the same Pope Gregory who ultimately designated Nov. 1 as the feast of all saints throughout the Church and also made it a holy day of obligation,” Rossi said .

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

“We … are focused on our future lives as people now resting in the peace of God,” Sanchez told USA TODAY.

How do you celebrate All Saints Day?

Some people not only attend Mass on All Saints' Day but also dress up as saints, Rossi said from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

“The consistent, fundamental practice was to pray and invoke the intercession of the saints,” Rossi told USA TODAY. “Other customs would be to visit the saint’s grave on this day and bring flowers.”

Because there are only 13 American saints, there aren't many places to visit on All Saints Day, Rossi said. However, 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 advocates” 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 human, just like us. Through their virtuous lives they became saints. We too can become saints.”

All Saints Day is a day to honor “known and unknown” saints.

Julia Campagna, director of mission and campus ministries at Notre Dame of Maryland University, said religion focuses primarily on one question: “What happens to us when we die?”

While All Saints' Day was originally a way to honor martyrs who died in the name of religion and to honor well-known saints such as Saint John and Saint Peter, some people have begun to recognize people in their own lives who “really” lived pious ways,” Campagna said.

The people honored on All Saints Day have grown as the church has expanded, she said.

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

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

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

There is also a communion of saints, which means 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 to each other. For Catholics and many Christians, the opportunity, the invitation to do this once a year as a practice, as a community in real life, somehow helps us for 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 send her an email at [email protected].

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