Commemorating All Saints’ Day

As many are out celebrating Halloween tonight, tomorrow, many look forward to commemorating All Saints’ Day. All Saints’ Day is most popularly commemorated by the Roman Catholic Church and other Christians across the globe. It celebrates quite literally all saints in the church that have deemed to attain heaven. The day originated on May 13th of 609 AD when Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome as a church in honor of the Virgin Mary and other martyrs. The commemoration’s date was officially changed to November 1 when Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica honoring all saints sometime during his reign between 731-741 AD. A representative from a local Catholic Church says "All Saints’ Day is the day of the solemnity of all those who were canonized as saints." The day of obligation originally commemorated in Rome expanded in 837 AD when Pope Gregory IV ordered the Official Observance of All Saints Day every 1st of November, expanding its observance to the entire Catholic Church. The representative did stress that All Saints’ Day is not a holiday but a Holy Day of Obligation for the Catholic Church. "The difference between the form of worship and adoration is that we do not look at the saints to be more than Christ, we look at the saints as their journey and what they contributed through their lifetime to the Catholic Church." the representative states. The representative did emphasize that All Saint’s Day is different from All Soul’s Day which falls on November 2 commemorating those who have passed versus All Saints’ Day commemorating all saints that have deemed to attain Heaven.