All Saints Day

First published in the October 30, 2022 Bulletin of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, Delray Beach, FL

Saints Day is November 1st; November 2nd is All Souls Day.

There are always souls in purgatory who need our prayers. None of us are perfect. All of us sin and we all need one another to gain eternal life. It is those who have attained eternal life who we celebrate on All Saints day.

How does the Church proclaim someone a Saint? There needs first to be an examination of the person’s life. This normally doesn’t start until at least five years after their death, to allow for facts not to be confused with emotions. If they are judged worthy for examination, and a formal case for sainthood opened, they earn the title “Servant of God.”

If the examination is judged to establish that their life was one of heroic virtue, they earn the title “Venerable” and the process continues. Those martyred for their faith may attain the next step, beatification, by virtue of that death. However, Beatification in all other cases requires a miracle attributed to prayers made to the individual after their death. We refer to those who have been beatified as “Blessed.”

The final stage, Canonization, does require a miracle attributed to prayers made to the candidate after they have been beatified. Once canonized, the person is given the title of Saint.

A miracle is most usually the spontaneous and lasting remission of a serious, life-threatening medical condition, which takes place in ways that the best-informed scientific knowledge cannot account for, and which follows prayers to the holy person to whom it is attributed. The granting of those prayers is accepted as proof that the individual is already in heaven, and hence able to intercede with God on others' behalf.

But All Saints Day does not simply celebrate those who have formally been raised to Sainthood by pronouncement of the Church. It celebrates all those who have attained eternal life. There are, undoubtedly, many more souls in heaven than those who have been recognized by the Church. These souls are no less Saints than those named by the Church, and, even though we do not know them by name or deed, they deserve our recognition. These in particular  are the Saints of All Saints Day.

This year, on November 1st and November 2nd, remember those of your friends and families who have gone before you. Those who are in purgatory will be helped on their way to heaven by your prayers. Those who are Saints will hear your prayers, and will pray for you in return.