Feast of All Saints
Why does the Church celebrate this Feast of the Saints?
1. To honor God in His saints, through whom He has shown Himself so wonderfully,
2. To thank God, as the author of all holiness, for the benefits He has bestowed upon these saints.
3. To inspire the people of God in remembrance of the communion of saints' holiness
4. To celebrate all those called to be saints through baptism whether they belong to the pilgrim Church on earth, to the Church in purgatory, or to the Church triumphant in heaven;
5. To call us who are yet journeying on earth, to model with eagerness the goodness of those who are in the communion of the saints in heaven.
6. To encourage us to strive for the like sanctity with them, and to teach us that it is by no means impossible; for if thousands of men could become saints, why should not we, who can do all things through Him Who strengthens us, and has sent the Holy Ghost for our sanctification?
7. To pay honor to those saints to whom no particular day in the year is dedicated.
8. To allow us a share in their merits, and grant us the grace of one day sharing in their joy in heaven in hopes that God may grant us perfect reconciliation, through the merits of Jesus and the consideration of so many intercessors.
How did this Feast come about?
The Romans observed the holiday of Feralia, intended to give rest and peace to the departed. Participants made sacrifices in honor of the dead, offered up prayers for them, and made oblations to them. The festival was celebrated on February 21st, the end of the Roman year. In the 7th century, Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints' Day to replace the pagan festival of the dead on May 13th. In the year of 610 AD, Pope Boniface IV appropriated the Pantheon (the Roman temple of all gods in Rome) to the divine service of Christians. He dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin and the Saints and commanded this Feast in Honor of All Saints to be celebrated at Rome every year. Pope Gregory III changed the date of All Saints Day to November 1st. With the coming of Christianity, the three day celebration of the Celtic pagan festival of Samhain was turned into Halloween (31st of October), All Hallows [All Saints Day] (1st of November), and All Souls Day (2nd of November). Gregory III, in that year 840, extended this feast to the whole Church, and transferred it to the 1st of November. Here we can see most clearly the way in which Christianity built on the Pagan foundations it found rooted in these missionary isles.
The Catholic Church, unable to get the people to stop celebrating this holiday, simply sprinkled a little holy water on it and gave it new names, as they did with other Paleopagan holidays and customs. This was a form of calendrical imperialism, (co-opting Paleopagan sacred times), as they had co-opted Paleopagan sacred places (most if not all of the great cathedrals of Europe were built on top of earlier Paleopagan shrines and sacred groves).