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All Souls' Day

 

n. Roman Catholic Church
November 2, the day on which special prayers are offered for the souls in purgatory.


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In the Roman Catholic church, a day commemorating all the Christians believed to be in purgatory. Celebrated on November 2, it was first established by Odilo (d. 1049), abbot of Cluny, in the 11th century, and it was widely celebrated by the 13th century. The date follows All Saints' Day, with the idea that remembering the saints in heaven should be followed by remembering the souls awaiting release from purgatory. Roman Catholic doctrine holds that the prayers of the faithful on earth will help cleanse these souls in order to prepare them for heaven.

For more information on All Souls' Day, visit Britannica.com.


(2 November)

Also called Soulmas Day, Saumas, etc. This feast was devised by Abbot Odilo of Cluny (d. 1049), to pray for ‘all the dead who have existed from the beginning of the world to the end of time’. He set it in February, but it was soon transferred to the day after All Saints; its sombre associations affected All Saints' Day and ultimately its eve as well, giving rise to many aspects of Halloween. It is probable that in medieval England, as in many Catholic countries, the dead were believed to leave Purgatory for two or three days, to revisit their homes and seek the prayers of their relatives. In The Gentleman's Magazine for November 1784, a correspondent said children at Findern (Derbyshire) lit small bonfires on the common on 2 November, calling them ‘tindles’; adults recalled that the purpose had originally been ‘to light souls out of Purgatory’. There are similar reports from Lancashire, but these seem to be isolated examples.

Before the Reformation, it was customary to distribute food and alms to the poor on All Souls' Day as a fee for praying for the dead. Later, Aubrey describes piles of small cakes set out on this day in Shropshire houses, for visitors to take one; he also gives ‘an old Rhythm or saying’:

A Soule-cake, a Soule-cake,
Have mercy on all Christen soules for a Soule-cake.
(Aubrey, 1686/1880: 23)

Cakes were long made in many regions, and called ‘soul-cake’ in some places. The type varies widely from place to place, and even two reports from Whitby (Yorkshire) disagree—‘a small round loaf’, says one, but ‘a square farthing cake with currents on top’ says the other.

See also ANTROBUS SOUL-CAKERS, MUMMING PLAYS, SOULING.

Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.

  • Wright and Lones, 1940: iii. 137-45
Columbia Encyclopedia:

All Souls' Day

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All Souls' Day, Nov. 2 (exceptionally, Nov. 3), feast of the Roman Catholic Church on which the church on earth prays for the souls of the faithful departed still suffering in purgatory. The proper office is of the dead, and the Mass is a requiem. General intercessions for the dead (e.g., for those of a parish, a city, or a regiment) are very ancient (2 Mac. 12.43-45); but the modern feast was probably first established by Abbot Odilo of Cluny (d. 1049) for his community and later extended throughout the church. In Catholic countries there are many customs peculiar to All Souls' Day (e.g., leaving lights in the cemeteries on the night before). These vary from region to region. They should be distinguished from the customs of Halloween, which were apparently an independent development (see All Saints' Day).


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American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore. A Dictionary of English Folklore. Copyright © 2000, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
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