All Saints (Feast of All Saints)

ALL SAINTS (Feast of All Saints). - The feast of All Saints (Nov. 1) is not only intended to honor the saints properly so called, but in the intention of the Church it also includes all the faithful who have passed away in grace and attained the definitive glorification of Heaven. This idea is already fundamentally expressed in Sacred Scripture, especially in the Apocalypse, in the many descriptions of the glory of the saints, that is, of the Christifideles who have reached the heavenly Jerusalem. With this feast it was intended in the Middle Ages to supply in some way for all that might have been lacking in the particular feasts. Indeed Urban IV, in a canon approved by the Council of Vienne (1311-12) and later inserted into the Clementines (can. Si Dominum: de reliquis et veneratione Sanctorum, III, 16 in Clem.) says expressly: « ut in hac ipsorum celebratione communi quod quod in propriis ipsorum festivitatibus omissum existeret, solveretur ».

The feast of All Saints was considered from the Middle Ages onward to be of such high rank that no other, not even the dedication of one's own church, could surpass it. It has a common octave, which, however, currently takes second place because of 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 the purpose. The principal ones are:

1) April 6. In the Syriac Martyrology (ed. H. Lietzmann, Die drei ältesten Martyrologien, 2nd ed., Bonn 1911, p. 10), written in 411-12 at Edessa, there appears, under the date April 6 and with the specification "Friday after Easter," a commemoration of all the martyrs: the coincidence between these dates and 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 said commemoration originated in one of those years in the city of Nisibis indicated in the lemma.

2) April 17 and 20. In certain Irish and English liturgical books of the 9th-10th centuries there appears the double date of April 17 and 20; on the first date the feast of all holy martyrs, on the second the feast of all the saints of Ireland, of Britain, and of Europe (Martyrology of Oengus and of Tallaght, cf. Martyr. Romanum, p. 489). The origin and duration of these celebrations remain completely obscure.

3) May 13. While in eastern Syria the celebration of all the martyrs settled on April 6, in western Syria, on the other hand, it is known from St. Ephrem (d. 378) that the feast "of all the martyrs of the earth" took place on May 13 (cf. G. Bickell, Carmina Nishena, Leipzig 1886, p. 23; id., in Theol. Quartalschr., 48 [1866], p. 467). On this same day, in 609, Pope Boniface IV proceeded to the consecration of the Pantheon in Rome, ceded to him by the emperor Phocas, transforming it into "ecclesiam b. Mariae semper virginis et omnium martyrum" (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 was perhaps influenced by the Syrian feast, since at that time the dedication of a church regularly took place on a Sunday.

Bede the Venerable, in the Historia Anglorum (II, 4: PL 95, 88), draws a comparison between the Pantheon as "simulacrum omnium deorum" and as a church of all the martyrs, "ut exclusa multitudine daemonum, multitudo ibi Sanctorum memoriam haberet," an idea later repeated by all medieval authors, from Paul the Deacon (Historia Langobardorum, IV, 37: PL 95, 570) to Durandus, Beleth, Sicard. Baronius in his notes to the Roman Martyrology says that the Pope had 20 carts laden with the bones of martyrs transported to the Pantheon on that occasion; but this report is without foundation.

As was customary, the anniversary of the dedication of the Pantheon was celebrated annually; and, if later reports are to be believed, this celebration would have become so famous that the great influx of pilgrims would at times have created serious difficulties of provisioning, as will be said below.

4) May 17-June 20, that is, the 1st Sunday after Pentecost. Another important date in the complex history of the feast of All Saints 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 there the Laudatio Sanctorum omnium qui martyrum toto terrorum orbe passi sunt (PG 50, 705-12), in which he links the commemoration of all the martyrs with the descent of the Holy Spirit. The κυριακή τῶν ἁγίων πάντων is in fact found later also in various Eastern calendars, and even in the Lectionary of Würzburg (6th century) and in that of Murbach (8th century), in which the Sunday after Pentecost is entitled: Natale Sanctorum or In natali sanctorum (cf. G. Morin, Le plus ancien Comes de l'Eglise romaine, in Rev. bénéd., 27 [1910], p. 41 ff.), which indicates, since these are purely Roman liturgical books, that at least for a certain time even in Rome (or in some Roman basilica) the use of celebrating the saints (martyrs) within the octave of Pentecost had prevailed. On the other hand, the notices of these two lectionaries remained without sequel, and the use rapidly disappeared.

5) May 20. The celebration of the holy martyrs within the octave of Pentecost later passed also in Byzantium to a fixed date, that is, to May 20, as appears from the Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople (Syntax Eccl. Const., col. 608).

6) November 1. From the Carolingian era onward it became the date of the feast of All Saints for the Latin Church and also for many Eastern Churches. To be sure, it is difficult to establish clearly the origin and developments of this festal date. The various celebrations, reviewed thus far, were almost all dedicated to the memory of the martyrs; whereas the feast of November 1 immediately became the celebration of all the saints without distinction. The Jeronymian Martyrology, the ancient Roman lectionaries up to the 8th century, the Gregorian, Gelasian and ancient Gelasian Sacramentaries of the 8th century all have on November 1 only the feast of St. Caesarius of Terracina, a feast introduced at Rome between the years 538 and 603 (cf. Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 581; Th. Klauser, Das römische Capitulare Evangeliorum, Münster in W. 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 s. Bonifacii, d. 754; v. Hefele-Leclercq, III, II, p. 923); the well-known liturgist Amalarius, in the times of Charlemagne, or the list of feasts published at the Council of Aachen of 809 (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 the date of November 1 are found. Bede the Venerable (d. 753) in his Poetic Martyrology (PL 94, 608) dedicates a distich to the feast, and speaks of it in his Historical Martyrology (PL 94, 1087), where he adds the story of the dedication of the Pantheon (the references to Gregory IV and Louis the Pious are later additions). At this same time, that is, under Pope Gregory III (731-41), an event of notable importance for the history of the feast of All Saints took place; the Pope erected and dedicated in the Vatican Basilica an Oratory, "in quo recondidit in honore Salvatoria Sanctaeque eius Genetricia reliquias Sanctorum apostolorum vel omnium sanctorum martyrum ac confessorum, perfectorum, iustorum toto in orbe terrarum requiescentium," also instituting special liturgical services to be performed by the monks of the three monasteries existing around the Basilica (Lib. Pont., I, pp. 421-22; Valentini-Zucchetti, op. cit., II, pp. 263-64). Unfortunately the year and precise day of this dedication are not known, which, had it occurred on November 1, would constitute the foundation of today's solemnity. In any case, Archbishop Arno of Salzburg, at the celebrated Synod of Riesbach, in August 798, prescribed as of precept the solemnity of All Saints on November 1 for all of south-eastern 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 Ephém. liturg., 51 [1937], p. 161). In the historical Martyrologies of Ado, of Usuard and in the additions to that of Bede, there is found the strange notice, recalled also by Sigebert of Gembloux (d. 1112) in his Chronicon (PL 160, 159), namely that Gregory IV (827-44) asked and obtained from the emperor Louis the Pious (814-40), and precisely in the year 835, two years after the memorable meeting between the two authorities near Colmar, the universal introduction of the feast of All Saints and its date, established by Gregory IV himself, namely November 1. Beleth (d. 1165) reports a fact that cannot be verified from other sources, namely that Gregory IV himself, seeing the difficulties of provisioning the numerous pilgrims who were accustomed to gather in Rome for the celebration of May 13, transferred the feast of All Saints to after the harvest, and specifically to November 1. But that date, as has been seen, was already known for more than a century. Be that as it may, from the 9th century onward the feast of All Saints on November 1 became common and penetrated deeply into Christian piety.

II. VIGIL, OCTAVE, LITURGICAL PARTICULARS

The Lectionary of Alcuin is so far the first liturgical text that lists 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 1, 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 it 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), in order to obtain through the intercession of all the saints the protection of the Church. Radulf of Rivo, the strenuous defender of the Roman liturgy against the various influists and laxist tendencies, insists greatly 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 the ancient Roman practice, two Masses should be celebrated, of the feast and of the Sunday, and the Creed should be recited "according to Damasus" (v. Radulfo, 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 until Pius V the antiphons and lessons were arranged in such a way that the first referred to the Most Holy Trinity, the second to the Madonna, 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 the virgins and the last to all the saints. The lessons were recited, beginning with the first, by the bishop or the prelate, by the dean, and so on, finally the eighth by the pueri, in white garments, often by a choir of at least five, before the altar of the Madonna, with lighted candles and great solemnity. St. Pius V changed the Office and Mass, eliminating the emphasis on the Most Holy Trinity, but various references to the Madonna and the Angels remained. Under the blessed Pius X the responsories for the octave were redone. The sermon of Bede (sermo 18 de Sanctis) is not his: but it also appears under the names of St. Augustine, of Rabanus Maurus, of Walafrid Strabo, and is probably by the abbot Elissacar of St. Maximin of Trier. Also the sermon of St. John Chrysostom for the VII day of the octave is not his, but is the work of an unknown Latin (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, taking the winter ones, with fur capes. This custom is attested, for the pontifical Chapel and the cardinals, at least since the times of Paris de Grassis and of Burckard (around 1500), but in ancient times and also after 1500, outside the papal Chapel, this change was a peculiarity of the feast of St. Martin (November 11).

III. CUMULATIVE FEASTS OF THE SAINTS

The same idea that led to the introduction of a collective feast, first for all the martyrs, later for all the saints, also had particular applications in churches and communities, and this since the Middle Ages.

It suffices to indicate a few of these feasts. Many dioceses, especially the older ones, with many ancient and medieval saints, have a feast omnium sanctorum episcoporum, sacerdotum, ceterorumque ecclesiae N. sanctorum (or with similar titles), fixed on various dates, e.g., on the Sunday of the octave of All Saints, on the 1st Sunday of August, or on fixed dates. Other dioceses have a feast of all the patrons celebrated in them; in Ireland there exists a feast of all the Irish saints (Sunday of the octave of All Saints); the Benedictine Order celebrates on 13 November the feast of all the saints of its own Order, as do likewise the Jesuits on the Sunday of the octave of All Saints, or the three Franciscan Orders on 29 November. Of the same type is the feast, very widespread, of all the Holy Apostles, celebrated by way of commemoration on the day of Sts. Peter and Paul, or the other feast, quite widely diffused, of all the supreme pontiffs, often on a date in July. In this same line stands the feast, very widespread, of all the holy relics of a church or of a 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 launched of a feast Omnium ss. Fundatorum, for religious only, to commemorate worthily all those saints who gave the Church a new family. But others, not without reason, propose, and for the whole Church, not only a cumulative feast of all founders, but also, e.g., of all the Holy Doctors of the Church, seeing and considering that the conditions of the Sanctoral are by now quite precarious, under the continuous and almost irrepressible pressure of so many saints who, according to ordinary practice, ought to pass into the Calendar of the universal Church. It suffices to recall that the Doctors of the Church alone (no. 29) require by themselves almost an entire month of the year, while in the years 1950 and 1951 alone 10 founders, men or women, were inserted into the catalogue of saints.

Be that as it may, the institution of cumulative feasts for groups of saints with an identical character has long been in use, and could, perhaps, constitute a useful means of remedying the overload of ecclesiastical calendars.

Giuseppe Löw