Observance Daily What day is today, and why are we celebrating it?
All Saints’ Day, also called All Hallows’ Day or Hallowmas, is a Christian feast observed on November 1 in Western Christianity. It honours all saints — known and unknown — including those with no feast day of their own. It is a day for remembering the whole company of the faithful whom Christians believe to be in heaven, whether or not the Church has ever formally recognised them by name.
History of All Saints’ Day
In the early Church, feasts honouring all martyrs were kept on various dates in different places, as local churches remembered their own dead. The November 1 date comes from Rome: on November 1, 735, Pope Gregory III dedicated an oratory in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome to the apostles, martyrs, saints and confessors, and November 1 became the feast of All Saints for Rome’s churches. A century later, Pope Gregory IV (827–844) assigned November 1 for the feast throughout the Latin Church, fixing the date for Western Christianity as a whole.
The move from scattered local remembrances to a single universal feast reflects how the Church’s calendar took shape in the early Middle Ages: Rome’s practice gradually became everyone’s practice. By the time Gregory IV acted, November 1 was already well established in Rome; his decision extended it across the Latin Church, where it has remained ever since.
How All Saints’ Day is observed
In the Roman Catholic Church, All Saints’ Day is a solemnity and a holy day of obligation, on which Catholics are expected to attend Mass. It is a public holiday in several countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Poland and the Philippines. The day is typically marked by church services and cemetery visits: families clean and decorate the graves of loved ones, leaving flowers and candles, and parishes may hold processions or special liturgies.
The mood of the day is reflective rather than mournful. Where All Souls’ Day (November 2) focuses on praying for the departed, All Saints’ Day celebrates those believed already to share in heavenly life — the known saints of the calendar and the unknown multitude besides.
Allhallowtide: three days of remembrance
All Saints’ Day does not stand alone. Its eve is All Saints’ Eve — Halloween, from “All Hallows’ Eve” — and it is followed on November 2 by All Souls’ Day. Together the three days form Allhallowtide, a season for remembering the dead: first the saints in heaven, then all the faithful departed. The sequence gives the start of November its distinctive character in Christian tradition, blending celebration, remembrance and prayer.
All Saints’ Day: frequently asked questions
When is All Saints’ Day? It is observed on November 1 each year in Western Christianity.
What are its other names? It is also called All Hallows’ Day or Hallowmas; its eve is Halloween, from “All Hallows’ Eve”.
Whom does it honour? All saints — known and unknown — including those with no feast day of their own.
Who fixed the November 1 date? Pope Gregory III dedicated an oratory in St Peter’s Basilica, Rome, on November 1, 735, making it the feast of All Saints for Rome’s churches; Pope Gregory IV (827–844) later assigned November 1 for the feast throughout the Latin Church.
Where is it a public holiday? Among others, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and the Philippines.
What is Allhallowtide? The three-day period of Halloween (October 31), All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2).
Related November 1 observances
All Saints’ Day shares its season with Día de los Muertos, the Mexican celebration of November 1–2 that blends indigenous and Christian traditions of remembering the dead. It was also on All Saints’ Day 1512 that the Sistine Chapel ceiling was shown to the public for the first time.
Read more about November 1 on November 1 Holidays, Observances and History.