ALL SOULS’ DAY

In the Roman catacombs there are examples of early inscribed petitions for prayers for the dead, but the idea of devoting one day in the church year specifically to prayer for those who had died took several centuries to develop.  The theological understanding is that those who have died pass through a stage of purification and preparation for the life of heaven; this understanding was gradually refined into the definition of Purgatory.  Those in Purgatory are still members of the Church, for there is the Church on Earth, the Church in Purgatory, and the Church in Heaven.  Already in later Jewish belief prior to Christ, with the development of belief in the after-life, it was thought laudable to pray for the dead in this way.

St. Isidore of Seville (+636) first proposed a day of prayer for the dead, on the Monday after Pentecost.  It was Odilo, Abbot of Cluny in Burgundy (+1049), who assigned the date November 2, the day after All Saints, for general monastic use, and this practice soon spread to the whole Latin church.  It reached England through Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was a monk of Bec in Normandy.  Dedications followed: All Souls College at Oxford, All Souls Church in Langham Place, London.   Then came the practice of endowing ‘chantry chapels’, as found in many medieval cathedrals and churches, to ensure the regular saying [chanting] of Masses for the dead.

On All Souls’ Day it is customary to visit family graves, though in this mobile age, and with the practice of cremation, that is sometimes difficult to achieve.  Some Christian cultures, possibly taking over pre-Christian ideas, have the custom of a grave-side meal (at which the deceased invisibly participates); the most obvious example is Mexico, where the cemeteries are festooned with marigolds (the flower of the dead: on mainland Europe it is the chrysanthemum) and children happily munch their way through sugar skulls and crossbones without developing any unfortunate neuroses.

The festivities of Halloween (eve of All Hallows, i.e. of All Saints Oct 31) came from the idea that the souls in purgatory could return as toads, ghosts or witches to haunt those who had offended them in life.  They could be placated by various charitable actions, including the purchase of specially baked ‘soul-cakes’.