ALL SAINTS' DAY (Festum Omnium Sanctorum). — All Saints' Day (1 Nov.) is not merely intended to honor the saints properly so called, but in the Church's intention it also includes all the faithful departed who have passed away in grace and have attained the definitive glory of Heaven. This idea is already fundamentally expressed in Holy Scripture, especially in the Apocalypse, in the manifold descriptions of the glory of the saints, that is, of the *Christifideles* who have reached the heavenly Jerusalem. In the Middle Ages, this feast was intended in some way to supply what might have been lacking in the individual feasts. Indeed, Urban IV, in a decree approved by the Council of Vienne (1311–12) and later inserted into the Clementines (*can. Si Dominum: de reliquiis et veneratione Sanctorum*, III, 16 in Clem.), expressly states: «so that in this common celebration of theirs, something that might have been omitted in their individual feasts would be supplied».
Since the Middle Ages, All Saints' Day has been considered of such high rank that no other feast, not even the dedication of one's own church, could surpass II. It has a common octave, which, however, now takes second place due to the octave of the Dead.
I. History and various dates of the feast
Originally, this feast was intended above all to honor all the martyrs, and each Church chose a particular date for this purpose. The principal dates are:1) 6 April. In the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* (ed. H. Lietzmann, *Die drei ältesten Martyrologien*, 2nd ed., Bonn 1911, p. 10), written in 411–12 at Edessa, there appears, under the date of 6 April and with the specification “Friday after Easter,” a commemoration of all martyrs. The coincidence of these dates with the Friday after Easter occurred in the second half of the 4th century (the date of origin of the aforementioned Martyrology) in the years 367, 378, 389, and 400, which suggests that the aforementioned commemoration originated in one of those years in the city of Nisibis, as indicated in the lemma.
2) 17 and 20 April. In some Irish and English liturgical books from the 9th–10th centuries, the double date of 17 and 20 April appears; on the first date, the feast of all the martyr saints, and on the second, the feast of all the saints of Ireland, Britain, and Europe (*Martyrologium of Oengus and Tallaght*, cf. *Martyrologium Romanum*, p. 489). The origin and duration of these celebrations remain completely obscure.
3) 13 May. While in eastern Syria the celebration of all martyrs had taken root on 6 April, in western Syria St. Ephrem (d. 378) is known to have celebrated the feast “of all the martyrs of the earth” on 13 May (cf. G. Bickell, *Carmina Nisibena*, Leipzig 1886, p. 23; id., in *Theol. Quartalschr.*, 48 [1866], p. 467). On this same day in 609, Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon in Rome and dedicated it to “the church of St. Mary ever Virgin and of all the martyrs” (Lib. Pont., I, p. 313; R. Valentini, G. Zucchetti, *Codice topografico della città di Roma*, II, Rome 1942, pp. 251–50; O. Bertolini, *Roma di fronte a Bisanzio e ai Longobardi*, Bologna 1941, pp. 292–94). The choice of this day, which in 609 fell on a Tuesday, for the aforementioned dedication may have been influenced by the Syrian feast, since “at that time the dedication of a church regularly took place on Sunday.”
The Venerable Bede, in the *Historia Anglorum* (II, 4: PL 95, 88), compares the Pantheon as “a temple of all the gods” to “a church of all the martyrs,” “so that where the multitude of demons was excluded, the multitude of saints might be commemorated there.” This idea was later repeated by all medieval authors, from Paul the Deacon (*Historia Langobardorum*, IV, 37: PL 95, 570) to Durandus, Beleth, and Sicard. Baronius, in his notes to the Roman Martyrology, states that the Pope had the bones of martyrs transported to the Pantheon on that occasion in twenty carts; but this notice lacks foundation.
As was customary, the anniversary of the dedication of the Pantheon was celebrated annually; and, if later accounts are to be believed, this celebration became so famous that the great influx of pilgrims sometimes created serious difficulties in providing hospitality, as will be mentioned later.
4) 17 May–20 June, i.e., the 1st Sunday after Pentecost. Another important date in the complex history of All Saints' Day is that of a solemnity in honor of the martyrs, to be celebrated on the 1st Sunday after Pentecost, which can fall between the two dates indicated above. The first certain notice of a liturgical celebration of all the martyrs on this Sunday is found in St. John Chrysostom, who delivered the *Laudatio Sanctorum omnium qui martyrium toto terrarum orbe passi sunt* (PG 50, 705–12), in which he links the memory of all the martyrs with the descent of the Holy Spirit. His sermon is a step toward the feast, and yet in the Würzburg Lectionary (6th century) and in that of Murbach (8th century), in which the Sunday after Pentecost is titled: *Natale Sanctorum* or *In natali sanctorum* (cf. G. Morin, *Le plus ancien Comes de l'Église romaine*, in *Rev. bénéd.*, 27 [1910], pp. 41 ff.), this indicates that, since these liturgical books were of Roman origin, at least for a certain time in Rome (or in some Roman basilica) the custom of celebrating the saints (martyrs) in the octave of Pentecost had taken root. On the other hand, the notices from these two lectionaries remained without follow-up, and the custom soon disappeared.
5) 20 May. The celebration of the martyr saints in the octave of Pentecost later passed in Byzantium to a fixed date, namely 20 May, as is evident from the *Synaxarium* of the Constantinopolitan Church (*Synax. Eccl. Const.*, col. 608).
6) November 1st. From the Carolingian era onward, this date became the feast of All Saints for the Latin Church and also for many Eastern churches. To be sure, it is difficult to establish with clarity the origin and development of this feast day. The various celebrations hitherto recorded were almost all dedicated to the memory of martyrs, whereas the feast of November 1st immediately became the celebration of all the saints without distinction.
The *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*, the ancient Roman lectionaries up to the 8th century, and the Gregorian, Gelasian, and Old Gelasian Sacramentaries of the 8th century all have on November 1st only the feast of St. Caesarius of Terracina, a feast introduced at Rome between the years 538 and 603 (cf. *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*, p. 581; Th. Klauser, *Das römische Capitulare Evangeliorum*, Münster in V. 1935; E. Donckel, *Ausserrömische Heilige in Rom*, Luxembourg 1938; P. de Puniet, *Le Sacramentaire romain de Gellone*, in *Ephemerides liturgicae*, 52 [1938], pp. 158-59); the *Statuta quaedam* of St. Boniface, m. in 754; V. Hefele-Leclercq, III, II, p. 923); the noted liturgist Amalarius, in the time of Charlemagne, and the list of feasts published at the Council of Aachen in 836 (ibid., p. 1131) make no mention of this feast. Yet precisely in the 8th century the first notices of the feast of All Saints on November 1st are found. The Venerable Bede (d. 735) in his *Martyrologium poeticum* (PL 94, 606) dedicates a couplet to the feast, and speaks of it in his *Martyrologium historicum* (PL 94, 1087), where he adds the story of the dedication of the Pantheon (the references to Gregory IV and Louis II the Pious are later additions). At this same time, namely under Pope Gregory III (731-41), an event of considerable importance for the history of the feast of All Saints took place: the Pope built and dedicated in the Vatican Basilica an oratory “in which he placed in honor of the Saviour and His Mother the relics of the holy apostles and of all the holy martyrs and confessors, of the perfect and just who rest throughout the whole world,” and also instituted special liturgical services to be performed by the monks of the three monasteries around the Basilica (Lib. Pont., I, pp. 421-22; Valentini-Zucchetti, op. cit., II, pp. 263-64). Unfortunately, the exact year and day of this dedication are not known; if it had taken place on November 1st, it would constitute the foundation of the present solemnity. In any case, the Archbishop Arno of Salzburg, at the famous Synod of Reisbach in August 798, prescribed as already noted the solemnity of All Saints on November 1st for all southeastern Germany (Hefele-Leclercq, III, II, p. 1108). Alcuin (d. 804) in his Lectionary notes the feast of All Saints and its vigil (cf. A. Wilmart, *Le Lectionnaire d'Alcuin*, in *Ephemerides liturgicae*, 51 [1937], p. 161). In the historical Martyrologies of Ado, Usuard, and in the additions to that of Bede, one finds the strange notice, also recorded by Sigebert of Gembloux (d. 1112) in his *Chronicon* (PL 160, 159), that Gregory IV (827-44) asked and obtained from Emperor Louis II the Pious (814-40), and precisely in the year 835, two years after the memorable meeting of the two authorities near Colmar, the universal introduction of the feast of All Saints on the date fixed by Gregory IV himself, namely November 1st.
Beleth (d. 1165) reports a fact that cannot be verified from other sources, namely that Gregory IV, seeing the difficulties of supplying food to the numerous pilgrims accustomed to gather at Rome for the celebration of May 13th, would have transferred the feast of All Saints to after the harvest, and precisely to November 1st. But this date, as we have seen, was already known for more than a century. In any case, from the 9th century onward the feast of All Saints on November 1st became common and deeply penetrated Christian piety.
II. VIGIL, OCTAVE, PARTICULAR LITURGICAL FEATURES
The Lectionary of Alcuin is so far the earliest liturgical text that records the vigil of All Saints (cf. A. Wilmart, art. cit., pp. 161, 173); it then spread rapidly with the general acceptance of the feast on November 1st, as a penitential vigil with fasting and abstinence, a law still preserved after the CIC (can. 1252 § 2).The octave of the feast is also mentioned in very ancient texts, but became obligatory for the whole Church only with Sixtus IV, who prescribed it after the fall of Otranto into the hands of the Turks (1480), to obtain through the intercession of all the saints the protection of the Church. Radulph of Rivo, the staunch defender of Roman liturgy against various lax tendencies, insists strongly on the fact that the feast of All Saints is of Roman pontifical institution, and that therefore, when it falls on a Sunday, according to ancient Roman practice, two Masses should be celebrated, one of the feast and one of the Sunday, and the Creed should be said “according to Damasus” (v. Radulph, *Liber de off. eccl.*, c. 16; *De can. observ.*, prop. XXIII; ed. K. Mohlberg, II, Paris 1915, pp. 28, 156). From Durandus and other liturgists it is known that up to Pius V the antiphons and lessons were arranged so that the first referred to the Most Holy Trinity, the second to the Virgin Mary, the third to the angels, the fourth to the prophets, the fifth to the Apostles, the sixth to the martyrs, the seventh to the confessors, the eighth to virgins, and the last to all the saints. The lessons were read, beginning with the first, by the bishop or prelate, then by the dean, and so on, finally the eighth by the *pueri*, in white vestments, often by a choir of at least five, before the altar of the Virgin Mary, with lighted candles and great solemnity. St. Pius V changed the Office and Mass, eliminating the reference to the Most Holy Trinity, but several references to the Virgin Mary and the angels remained. Under Bl. Pius X the responsories for the octave were revised. The sermon of Bede (sermo 18 de Sanctis) is not his: it appears also under the names of St. Augustine, Rabanus Maurus, Walafrid Strabo, and is probably the work of the abbot Elisachar of St. Maximin of Trier. Also the sermon of St. John Chrysostom for the seventh day of the octave is not his, but is the work of an unknown Latin author (cf. G. Morin, *Etudes, textes, découvertes*, I, Maredsous 1913, pp. 498-99).
Finally, it should be noted that with the first vespers of the feast of All Saints the choir vestments are changed to winter ones, with fur capes. This use is attested, for the Papal Chapel and the cardinals, at least from the time of Paris de Grassis and Burcardo (around 1500), but anciently, even after 1500, outside the Papal Chapel, this change was a peculiarity of the feast of St. Martin (November 2nd).
III. CUMULATIVE FEASTS OF THE SAINTS
The same idea that led to the introduction of a collective feast, first for all martyrs, then for all the saints, had particular applications in churches and communities from the Middle Ages onward.It is enough to indicate some of these feasts. Many dioceses, especially the older ones with many ancient and medieval saints, have a feast of *omnium sanctorum episcoporum, sacerdotum, ceterorumque ecclesiae N. sanctorum* (or with similar titles), fixed on various dates, e.g., on the Sunday within the octave of All Saints, on the first Sunday of August, or on fixed dates. Other dioceses have a feast of all the patrons celebrated in them; in Ireland there is a feast of all Irish saints (Sunday within the octave of All Saints); the Benedictine Order celebrates on November 13th the feast of all the saints of its own Order, as do the Jesuits on the Sunday within the octave of All Saints, or the three Franciscan Orders on November 29th. Of the same type is the very widespread feast of all the holy Apostles, celebrated as a commemoration on the day of SS. Peter and Paul, or the other very widespread feast of all the Supreme Pontiffs, often on July 4th. In this same line stands the very widespread feast of all the holy relics of a church or diocese, generally within the octave of All Saints.
Recently, on the occasion of the International Congress of Religious held in Rome (1950), the idea was proposed of a feast of All the Holy Founders, intended solely for religious, to suitably commemorate all those saints who gave a new family to the Church. However, others, not without reason, propose—both for the entire Church and not just for religious—a feast not only cumulative of all founders but also, for example, of all the Holy Doctors of the Church, considering that the conditions of the sanctoral cycle are now quite precarious, under the constant and almost uncontrollable pressure of so many saints who, according to ordinary practice, should be included in the General Calendar of the Church. It suffices to recall that the Holy Doctors alone (no. 29) would require almost an entire month of the year, while in the years 1950 and 1951 alone, ten founders or foundresses have been added to the catalogue of saints.
In any case, the institution of cumulative feasts for groups of saints with a similar character has long been in use and could perhaps constitute a useful means of remedying the overburdening of ecclesiastical calendars.