| All Souls' Day, November 2nd, directly follows All Saints' Day and is an opportunity to commemorate the faithful departed - we remember all those loved ones who have died, either recently or in the more distant past.
In other parts of the world, rituals include the offering of Requiem Masses for the dead, visiting family graves and reflecting on lost loved ones.
In Mexico, on el dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead), people take picnics to their family graves and leave food out for their dead relatives.
In France, at Tous Saints, wonderful brightly coloured chrysanthemum plants are taken to the cemeteries and placed on graves, having been bought at chrysanthemum markets,
Whilst praying for the dead is an ancient Christian tradition, it was Odilo, Abbot of Cluny (France) who, in 998AD, designated a specific day for remembering and praying for those in the process of purification. This started as a local feast in his monasteries and gradually spread throughout the Catholic Church towards the end of the 10th century AD.
Our All Souls’ Service will be on Sunday, November 1st, 4.00p.m., at St Alban’s. Lists are in Church for you to add the names of those you wish to be remembered at the service.
All Souls Day
I am the Resurrection,
I am the life;
to believe in me means life,
in spite of death,
and all who believe
and live in me
shall never die.
John 11:25-26
|
