All Saint’s Day
Feast day: November 1
All Saints’ Day is a solemnity and holy day of obligation on which the universal Church honors the martyrs, the saints and the confessors, including all known and unknown, who have gained the reward of heaven. All Saints’ Day was formally started by Pope Boniface IV, who consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs on May 13 in 609 AD. After dedicating a chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica in honor of all the saints, Pope Gregory III established November 1 as the date for the solemnity.
Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
by whose gift we venerate in one celebration
the merits of all the Saints,
bestow on us, we pray,
through the prayers of so many intercessors,
an abundance of the reconciliation with you
for which we earnestly long.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
