“O pleasant happiness to see the Saints, to be with the Saints, to be a Saint!” exults Saint Augustine of Hippo. Each age has produced its crop of holy men and women who go to make the amazing galaxy of saints in the Catholic Church. There are the canonized, the beatified, the venerable, the well-known and the little known, coming from all walks of life, cutting across all time frames as well as age, gender, and vocational divides, some named in the book of saints, many others not, all too numerous to be counted! Indeed, it is to celebrate the grace-filled memory of all those in the realm of Heaven who has accepted the saving grace of Christ, whether explicitly or implicitly, that the Church has instituted the “Feast of All Saints”.
The exact origin of this feast, which has been accorded the highest rank among feasts, viz., a “Solemnity”, is unclear, observed as it has been over the centuries on different days in different places. According to Saints Ephraem Syrus (c 306-373) and John Chrysostom (c 349-407), a feast honouring all the martyrs of the Church was already being observed on 13 May in the Eastern Church in the 4th century. This date may have prompted the choice of the date on the part of Pope Boniface IV when he dedicated the Pantheon in Rome—which he had received from Emperor Phocas (d 610) in 609 or 610—to Our Blessed Mother and the Martyrs.
However, the first evidence of 01 November as the date of the observance was noted in England during the Papacy of Gregory III (731-741) who dedicated an oratory in Saint Peter’s, Rome, to all the saints. The broadening of the feast to include all the saints and martyrs of the Universal Church and its observance on 01 November is variably ascribed to Pope Gregory IV (827-844) and Gregory VII (1020-1085).
Among the saints, who have lived and borne witness to the Paschal Mystery, Mary stands out as the Prima Donna of motherhood and virginity because of her intimate involvement with God’s plan of salvation. She is per se the perfection of the co-operation of humankind in the sacrifice of Christ.
The saints are exquisite masterpieces of God’s work. But this feast is meant to remind us that the stuff each of them is made of is human flesh and blood like our own; that to be counted among the highly favoured of the Lord, it is not enough to be a Christian. Rather, we ought to cherish in our heart, points out Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, “a desire to achieve sanctity”, to enter ever more deeply into the death-resurrection mystery of Christ. The liturgical celebration of the feast of all the saints of the Church provides such an occasion.
01 November – ALL SOULS DAY
Sacred Scripture says, “It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins” (2 Mac 12:46). And so it is but fitting that Holy Mother Church makes it a point to draw our attention to the value intrinsic in recalling our dear departed, indeed, all the departed in Purgatory, and praying for the repose of their souls. That she does this by setting aside a day annually is even more significant. And what gives depth to the significance is the date, so chosen as to immediately follow the feast of All Saints whereby, having honoured the Church Triumphant in Heaven on 01 November, the very next day the Church Militant on Earth, with due concern, turns her gaze onto the members of the Church Suffering in Purgatory. In so doing, she demonstrates the supernatural bond of the ‘Communion of Saints’ in no uncertain terms.
All Souls Day owes its origin to the feast established in the year 998 by Saint Odilo, the fifth Abbot of Cluny, to enable his monks to offer special prayers for the souls of the departed. This Cluniac custom gradually gained popularity and spread to parts of Europe and Latin America. The Council of Trent formally declared that the souls in Purgatory both need and benefit from the prayers and works of charity of all Christian believers as aids to eventually surmounting their spiritual separation from God. Catholic tradition holds that even though some who have died are presently in a state of suffering, they nevertheless experience consolation in knowing that they will in time, as a result of our prayers, be fully united with the Creator in His glory and happiness. It is important to note here that the Church has enriched with a Plenary Indulgence the custom of visiting the cemetery to pray for the deceased during the Octave lasting 01-08 November, and a Partial Indulgence on other days. Besides, on 02 November, one Plenary Indulgence applicable to the dead can be gained under the usual conditions—visiting a Church/Cemetery, receiving the sacraments, and praying for the Pope’s intentions.
Three Masses – The custom of celebrating and attending three Masses on All Souls’ Day probably originated among the Spanish Dominicans in the 15th century. But it was Pope Benedict XV who, seized of the number of casualties in World War I and mindful of the non-feasibility of the offering of individual Masses for the numerous dead, granted by a decree dated 10 August 1915 all priests the holy privilege of celebrating three Masses on this day—one for their own intentions, another for all the faithful departed and a third one for the intentions of the Holy Father. For the faithful in general, this practice comes as a bonanza of sorts for, on this day, many indeed make it a point to attend three masses for the souls of their dear departed. This day, however, is a day of hope for the entire Church, focusing as it does on the fullness of the Paschal Mystery enveloping every believer in its redeeming embrace. Proof of this hope is clearly in evidence on the nights of 01 and 02 November when entire cemeteries are bedecked with flowers of every hue and delightfully aglow with the flickering flames of candles and oil lamps – the little flames a sign of prayer and the flowers a sign of hope that the Lord will be merciful on judgment day both to those gone before us marked with the sign of Faith and to those of us yet to be called to our destiny. And so, the general emphasis is now more on a meaningful celebration of the one “source and summit of Christian worship” that the Eucharist is, with appropriate congregational participation, rather than a rushed affair of a string of masses hurriedly celebrated and distractedly “attended” at one go.
Associated practices – We need to turn our attention analytically to other customs associated with this feast. In the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed that “the souls in purgatory could appear on this day as will-o’-the-wisps, witches, toads, etc., to persons who had wronged them during their life” (New Catholic Encyclopaedia). In our own time and day, there exists this notion that the souls are released from their bondage on the night of 01 November and roam around till the noon of 02 November. Whence stem these notions is not known but festive food and drink are found placed on graves, doorsteps or rooftops on the night of 01 November in anticipation of a nocturnal home-visit from the deceased. Plates and bottles found empty the next morning imply that the soul did come, after all, those concerned naturally rejoicing, whereas an offering remaining untouched, however, flooding the minds of those concerned with doubts and remorse, the fear that the soul in question has been offended on some account, being paramount. Hardly does either side care to understand that the offerings were either gulped down by a drunkard on his night rounds or feasted upon by strays, be these the canine, feline or the rodent variety! And amazingly, both sides include not merely the illiterate in villages but a large number of the elite and the educated living in city high-rises!
Yet another belief that sends its adherents on a merry-go-round has to do with the blessing of graves and niches that takes place on the morning of 02 November, what with a family grave in one parish, the niche of an in-law somewhere else, and friends lying buried elsewhere. It is generally assumed that the presence of a family member near the grave or niche of a dear one at a given time is essential so as to ensure that the holy water sprinkled or flashed around by a priest falls on the grave or niche, failing which the soul will suffer grievously for another year. Phew!!
There is also this other misconception concerning masses to be “heard” on All Souls Day. While we may each remember our own dear departed at least on certain significant dates through the year, there are innumerable souls in Purgatory who have no one Earth to pray for them. It is these that the Church would obviously want her children to lift up to the Almighty in fervent prayer. Could we henceforth, as responsible believers, give due consideration to this important aspect of All Souls Day? As for the other practices described above, there must be many more, as varied as the backgrounds we each come from! Perhaps our priests could consider touching – in their homilies, announcements, and writings – on the more popular ones so as to dispel all related myths to the edification of the faithful and the glorification of the Risen Lord.
Of niches and permanent graves – An unmistakable reality connected with All Souls Day is our final resting place of the believer, viz., the graveyard. That’s the place to which at some stage or other in life we find ourselves accompanying the mortal remains of someone or other who’s been part of our life on Earth and to which we ourselves will one day go. This of course brings us face to face with the twin issue of graves and niches.
While the prescribed form of disposal of the mortal remains of a Christian is burial—which continues to remain the generally preferred form—the other form approved by the Church, viz., “cremation”, is slowly gaining ground. Be that as it may, what is of concern is the modalities involved as far as burial is concerned. There is no denying the fact that there exists an acute shortage of burial space, and with the steady growth in numbers both in terms of parishes and parishioners, new burial grounds are difficult to come by. Let’s put it this way: there isn’t enough place to stay alive, where is the space to lie dead! And so the issue is certainly serious. And the issue but naturally includes the question of permanent graves. Could the Church in India, in general, give equally serious thought to this? For it is an issue that needs to be tackled on a war footing, and the earlier the better.
Undeniably, ridding permanent graves of their permanence would help free valuable burial space in most parishes, the need to demand burial space from the government or the municipality thus dropping considerably. So far, one knows of only one parish in the vast Archdiocese of Bombay where this has been done, and that is the Church of the Holy Magi in Gorai village. The space from the front door of the Church right up to the gate, that was used for burials has, some years ago, been concreted, with the stone slabs of permanent graves being rearranged with minimal adjustments and the place now used as a playground for the parish school and as an open-air hall; burials now take place only in the space permanently earmarked for temporary graves. Hats off to the Parish Priest and Parish Pastoral Council of the time when this was done for their far-sighted vision and the courage of their convictions!
Our permanent home . . . ? – Come to think of it, is there really a need for a permanent grave? We consume but the one body of Christ and, like him, are buried in the same earth so as to co-mingle with one another until the day we stand shoulder to shoulder before the final judgment seat. Couldn’t we possibly, in crowded cities at least, leave the “permanent grave” status to graves in private or municipal cemeteries?
This brings us to the question of “niches” which could someday snowball into an issue, space again being a casualty! One would understand burial as a matter of returning to Earth what came from Earth, for the dust we are and unto dust shall we all return, confirms sacred scripture. The niche stands out as a contradiction. In burial we surrender, we let go. In order to entomb in a niche, we take back. But, why? What’s the relevance? Do we really need to have the remains exhumed for us to remember our loved ones? Isn’t there much else for us to remember them by? And what about the torment and the tears that accompany such exhumation – do we really need to go through it all over again eighteen months after the death and burial itself?
Both the grave and the niche are sensitive matters and thus challenge our thought process. Add to it the space occupied for aye by embalmed bodies and you have a catastrophe staring you in the face! As a matter of fact, they are issues the Church needs to address on a priority basis. What relation do these issues have to All Souls Day, one might ask. And the answer is obvious: we need to understand death, burial, and the Resurrection in their correct perspective so as to be able to appreciate better the relevance and significance of both ALL SAINTS DAY and ALL SOULS DAY.
Ladislaus Louis D’Souza