The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

The meaning of the celebration

+ On this day the Church remembers all those women and men who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith, and prays that the Lord in his mercy will welcome them into the Kingdom of Heaven.

+ It was the Benedictine abbot Saint Odilo of Cluny who, in 998, ordered that this feast be celebrated in all the monasteries associated with the great abbey of Cluny. The celebration was later adopted by other religious communities and dioceses. On this day, clergy and religious pray the Office of the Dead (unless the celebration falls on a Sunday) and priests are given special permission to celebrate three Masses on this day: for the souls in Purgatory, for the intentions of the Pope, and for the priest’s own intentions.

+ The various readings from Scripture that can be used for this celebration remind us that God’s power is stronger than death and that nothing is greater than the gift of eternal life God promises us through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

+ As we honor those who have gone before us, we commend them to God’s mercy and love.

For prayer and reflection

“The souls of the just are in the hand of God,

and no torment shall touch them.

They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;

and their passing away was thought an affliction

and their going forth from us, utter destruction.

But they are in peace.”—Wisdom 3:1-3

Spiritual bonus

On November 2, we also remember Blessed John Bodey. After completing studies at Oxford University, John converted to the Catholic Faith and studied law in Douai, France. He returned to England and served as a schoolmaster. John repudiated King Henry VIII’s claims of supremacy over the Church in England and was subsequently arrested. After three years in prison, he was tried and condemned with another schoolmaster, Blessed John Slade. Blessed John Bodey was hanged, drawn and quartered in Andover, England, on November 2, 1583, and was beatified with other English martyrs in 1929.

Prayer

O God, glory of the faithful and life of the just,

by the Death and Resurrection of whose Son

we have been redeemed,

look mercifully on your departed servants,

that, just as they professed the mystery of our resurrection,

so they may merit to receive the joys of eternal happiness.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.