What does All Souls Day mean?

Answer 1

Catholic AnswerAll Souls is the day on which people remember and pray for all the departed souls who are not yet in heaven, but suffering in purgatory. Priests may offer three Masses on this day, and people may gain a plenary indulgence each day of the Octave applicable only to the souls in purgatory.

from Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices by Ann Ball, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. C 2003

The annual commemoration of all the faithful departed, November 2.

The dead were prayed for from the earliest days of the Church. By the sixth century, Benedictine monasteries customarily held commemorations for departed members at Pentecost. A common commemoration of all the faithful departed on the day after All Saints' Day was begun in the Abbey of Cluny by St. Odilio in 998. Five years later, it was recommended and approved by Pope Sylvester II, and from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries the feast gradually spread throughout Europe.

In the Western Church, All Souls Day was set for November 2 so that the memories of all the souls, both of the saints in heaven and the souls of those in purgatory, could be celebrated on two successive days. In this way, the Christian belief in the communion of saints could be more clearly expressed. In Eastern Rites, commemorations for the souls in purgatory are celebrated during the Easter season.

Throughout the world, numerous customs and pious traditions were associated with the celebrations in honor of the dead. Almost all ethnic traditions include special prayers, decorations, foods, lights, and the visiting and maintenance of graves. Some groups distribute food to the poor on this day, and others visit graves of the "forgotten," plots that would otherwise remain neglected and unadorned.

Answer 2

Catholic AnswerAll Souls is the day on which people remember and pray for all the departed souls who are not yet in heaven, but suffering in purgatory. Priests may offer three Masses on this day, and people may gain a plenary indulgence each day of the Octave applicable only to the souls in purgatory.

from Encyclopedia of Catholic Devotions and Practices by Ann Ball, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. C 2003

The annual commemoration of all the faithful departed, November 2.

The dead were prayed for from the earliest days of the Church. By the sixth century, Benedictine monasteries customarily held commemorations for departed members at Pentecost. A common commemoration of all the faithful departed on the day after All Saints' Day was begun in the Abbey of Cluny by St. Odilio in 998. Five years later, it was recommended and approved by Pope Sylvester II, and from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries the feast gradually spread throughout Europe.

In the Western Church, All Souls Day was set for November 2 so that the memories of all the souls, both of the saints in heaven and the souls of those in purgatory, could be celebrated on two successive days. In this way, the Christian belief in the communion of saints could be more clearly expressed. In Eastern Rites, commemorations for the souls in purgatory are celebrated during the Easter season.

Throughout the world, numerous customs and pious traditions were associated with the celebrations in honor of the dead. Almost all ethnic traditions include special prayers, decorations, foods, lights, and the visiting and maintenance of graves. Some groups distribute food to the poor on this day, and others visit graves of the "forgotten," plots that would otherwise remain neglected and unadorned.