All Saints’ Day: Meaning and History of the Feast on 1 November

No calendar has room for all the Saints. Many are known to God alone, and yet, according to the Apocalypse of St John, they stand as a great multitude before his throne. For all of them the Church keeps a single feast on 1 November: All Saints. In 2026 it falls on a Sunday. This guide explains the meaning of All Saints’ Day, the history of the feast from Rome to the whole Church, the texts of the Holy Mass and the difference from All Souls’ Day on the following day.

What does All Saints’ Day mean?

All Saints’ Day means that on 1 November the Catholic Church honours, in a single feast, all the Saints who are with God in heaven. She venerates their merits, asks for their intercession and also honours the many Saints who have no feast day of their own in the calendar.

The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1907 gives two reasons for the feast: it honours all the Saints, known and unknown, and, according to Pope Urban IV, it is meant to make up for whatever the faithful have neglected on the individual feasts of the Saints during the year. The Collect of the Mass sums up this thought.

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui nos omnium Sanctorum tuorum merita sub una tribuisti celebritate venerari: quaesumus; ut desideratam nobis tuae propitiationis abundantiam, multiplicatis intercessoribus, largiaris.

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast granted us to venerate the merits of all Thy Saints in a single celebration: we beseech Thee, that through the multitude of intercessors Thou wouldst bestow upon us the longed-for abundance of Thy favour.

Collect of the Feast of All Saints, Missale Romanum 1962. Our translation from the Latin.

If on All Saints’ Day you think especially of your own patron saint, you may find him or her among our statues of the Saints.

Whom does the Church honour on All Saints’ Day?

On All Saints’ Day the Church honours all who have been made perfect with God and already behold him in heaven. They include the Saints who have their own feast in the calendar as well as the countless blessed in heaven whose names are known to God alone.

The Lesson of the festal Mass describes this multitude. The holy Apostle John first sees those who were sealed from the twelve tribes of Israel and then a multitude from every nation.

“After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”

Apoc 7:9, Douay-Rheims translation of the Vulgate

Why are they all called Saints? Joseph Deharbe’s Catechism answers: because all are called to holiness and sanctified by baptism, and countless numbers of them have already attained perfect holiness. The article of the Creed on the communion of saints therefore embraces the blessed in heaven, the souls in Purgatory and the faithful on earth. You will find the full text of the Creed in our guide to praying the Rosary.

Where does the feast of All Saints come from?

All Saints’ Day comes from Rome. Around 609 Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon to the Mother of God and all martyrs, Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St Peter’s to all Saints, and Gregory IV prescribed the feast for the whole Church in the 9th century. An Eastern day of all martyrs is older.

It began with the commemoration of the martyrs. The first Christians celebrated the day of a martyr’s death at the place of his martyrdom. In the persecution under Diocletian the martyrs became so numerous that each could no longer be given a day of his own. The Church appointed a common day for them all; the earliest trace is found in Antioch, on the Sunday after Pentecost. St Ephrem the Syrian (died 373) mentions such a day in a sermon, and St John Chrysostom (died 407) in his 74th homily.

The book of the popes of the Roman Church, the Liber Pontificalis, reports that Boniface asked the Emperor Phocas for the temple “called the Pantheon” and established in it a church of Mary ever Virgin and of all the martyrs. Of Gregory III it says that in his chapel in St Peter’s he enshrined relics of the Apostles and of all the holy martyrs and confessors, the perfected just who rest throughout the whole world.

That Gregory III fixed the anniversary on 1 November is recorded by the Catholic Encyclopedia. The Roman Martyrology names both popes on 1 November: Boniface IV introduced the feast in Rome, and Gregory IV decreed that, in honour of all the Saints, it should ab universa Ecclesia perpetuo observari, be kept by the whole Church for ever.

How does the Catholic Church celebrate All Saints’ Day?

The Catholic Church celebrates All Saints’ Day with a festive Holy Mass. It begins with the call Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, “Let us all rejoice in the Lord”. The Lesson is taken from the Apocalypse of St John (7:2–12), and the Gospel is the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:1–12).

The Introit gives the reason for this joy: the Angels rejoice at the solemnity of all the Saints and praise the Son of God. In the Gospel our Lord calls blessed the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, the merciful and the peacemakers. In the Douay-Rheims translation one of the Beatitudes reads: “Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.”

In the Breviary the Church reads on the feast a sermon of St Bede the Venerable. It begins with the words Hodie, dilectissimi, omnium Sanctorum sub una solemnitatis laetitia celebramus festivitatem: today, dearly beloved, we celebrate in the joy of a single solemnity the feast of all the Saints. In 2026 All Saints’ Day falls on a Sunday. Because it is a feast of the first class, the Mass of All Saints is celebrated; the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost is only commemorated with its orations, that is, the Collect, the Secret and the Postcommunion.

Is All Saints’ Day a holy day of obligation?

All Saints’ Day is a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church. The 1917 Code of Canon Law counts the feast of All Saints among the feast days on which the faithful must hear Holy Mass and abstain from servile work, exactly as on Sundays.

Can. 1247 § 1 lists the holy days of obligation of the universal Church: all Sundays, Christmas, the Circumcision of the Lord, the Epiphany, the Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Joseph, the Apostles Peter and Paul and, last of all, Omnium denique Sanctorum, finally All Saints. Can. 1248 states what applies on these days: hearing Holy Mass and resting from servile work and judicial proceedings, and likewise from markets and public trading, unless lawful customs or special indults permit otherwise. All Souls’ Day on 2 November is not on this list.

Mentioned in this article St Peter Statue The Prince of the Apostles, in whose basilica Gregory III established the chapel of all Saints. Resin, hand-painted in colour, 30 cm. View the statue

More Saints as wall pictures, from St Joseph to the holy Curé of Ars, can be found among our pictures of the Saints.

What is the difference between All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day?

All Saints’ Day on 1 November honours the Saints who are already with God and asks for their intercession. All Souls’ Day on 2 November prays for the departed who are still being purified in Purgatory. All Saints is a feast of joy, All Souls a day of intercession with the Requiem Mass.

The two days stand side by side because they belong to the same communion of saints. Deharbe’s Catechism names three parts of the Church: the Church militant of the faithful on earth, the Church suffering of the souls in Purgatory and the Church triumphant of the blessed in heaven. On 1 November the Church militant looks up to the Church triumphant; on 2 November she helps the Church suffering with prayer, indulgences and the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Objects for meditating on death and eternity can be found in our Memento mori collection.

Frequently asked questions about All Saints’ Day