Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us and All The Saints and Angels In Heaven

Stand In The Gap With Us and All The Saints and Angels In Heaven 11/1/2023

All Saints' Day in the officially commemorates all those who attain glory with God in heaven. They are the holy women, men, and children given to us as models for every day and age to inspire us on our journey of faith.

All Saints' Day is one of the Holy Days of Obligation in the Catholic Church; Mass attendance is expected on November 1 for all who are able.

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. Boniface IV also established All Souls' Day, which follows All Saints.

The earliest certain observance of a feast in honor of all the saints is an early fourth-century commemoration of “all the martyrs.” In the early seventh century, after successive waves of invaders plundered the catacombs, Pope Boniface IV gathered up some 28 wagon-loads of bones and reinterred them beneath the Pantheon, a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. The pope rededicated the shrine as a Christian church. According to Venerable Bede, the pope intended “that the memory of all the saints might in the future be honored in the place which had formerly been dedicated to the worship not of gods but of demons” (On the Calculation of Time).

But the rededication of the Pantheon, like the earlier commemoration of all the martyrs, occurred in May. Many Eastern Churches still honor all the saints in the spring, either during the Easter season or immediately after Pentecost.