1st November 2024

Someone told me recently they’d never heard of All Saints’ Day… but I bet they’d heard of Hallowe’en! Hallowe’en or ‘All Hallows Eve’(ning) is the day before All Hallows/All Saints Day. In the 9th century some churches in Britain began commemorating saints and martyrs on the first day of November. This practice was soon extended throughout the Catholic Church by Pope Gregory IV. On All Saints Day we remember specifically those individuals given this title of honour/respect because they distinguished themselves among their fellow Christians for the degree of their devotedness to Christ.

‘Saint’ comes from the Latin ‘sanctus’ meaning ‘holy’ i.e. ‘set apart for the purposes of God’. The English word ‘holy’ derives from Old English ‘hal-’. So, something/someone who is ‘hallowed’ is blessed or sacred, so in the Lord’s Prayer we pray ‘hallowed be thy name’ of God, because of his worthiness/holiness.

However, in the New Testament ‘saints’ is used by St Paul to refer to all the followers of Christ. So, what of the vast majority of those who have gone before but didn’t make the headlines or get commemorated in stained glass? They are remembered on 2 November, on All Souls Day, also known as The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, a day not traditionally celebrated by Non-conformists like ourselves.

Today we tend to sweep matters related to dying under the proverbial carpet. For people through most of history, though, death confronted them more starkly and more often. These three days in the church calendar are about being upfront with the journey we all have to make.

David Bell