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October 21, 2025Since the 4th century, there existed in various Christian centers celebrations to honor the saints: the holy men and women worthy of veneration. In 844, Pope Gregory IV fixed November 1st as the day for the universal Church to celebrate all saints. This day may have been a pagan harvest, and it was the Celtic New Year celebration. As the year winds down, the day grow colder, and the sunlight diminishes, amid God's spelndid palete of color, the Church gathers to celebrate the great harvest of holy men and women of every time and place, who have modeled for us the life of holiness in fidelity to the Gospel.
All Hallows Eve was a time of extending hospitality as modeled by the saints. People would dress as their patron or favorite saint. In the early days of the Church, saints were venerated in their native land, and regarded as "saints" by acclamation. By the 10th century formal canonizations began to occur: a solemn declaration by the pope that an individual demnstrated Christian virtue by their lives. A more formal process was eventually established.
All Saints Day is an annual liturgical celebration wherein we rejoice in the saints, a communion which includes us! We all strive each day for holiness, and look to the saints for inspiration and intercession.
In the abbey church is a series of wall hangings depicting the 12 apostles and 12 saints from the monastic tradition cover the side walls, and surround the gathered Church at prayer. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith [Hebrews 12:1-2a]. These hangings were designed by Fr. Vincent de Paul Crosby, O.S.B. of St. Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe Pa.
While All Saints Day is NOT a holy day of obligation in 2025, all are invited nonetheless to celebrate the saints at Mass, Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 8 a.m. All Souls Day follows the next day, and is celebrated at Sunday Mass at 11 a.m. At 4 p.m. the monks will gather at the abbey cemetery to pray by name for all the deceased monks of St. Mary's Abbey, followed by Vespers for the Dead.
In the mid-11th century, St. Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, decreed that all Cluniac monasteries offer special prayers and sing the Office of the Dead every November 2nd, the day after All Saints. The custom spread from Cluny, and was finally adopted throughout the Roman Church. As Benedictine monks, part of an ancient monastic legacy, we keep alive this wonderful custom. During the month of November, we celebrate in prayer at Saint Mary’s Abbey the blesseds remembered for their models of holiness, and now saints of the Church, and we also remember those who have gone before us to our Heavenly Father.
Once again, we invite you to list the names of loved ones you would like us to include in our prayers and Masses throughout the month of November, beginning at our All Souls Day Requiem Mass at 11 a.m. on Sunday, November 2, 2025. You are invited to email your list of names of your deceased relatives, classmates and friends you wish to be remembered. The names will be placed in a basket at the foot of the altar and remain there throughout the month.