Overview
- The feast honors canonized saints and those whose holiness is known only to God, observed on November 1 in the Western tradition.
- Its development traces to early martyr commemorations, the Pantheon’s conversion into a church by Pope Boniface IV in 609, a Vatican dedication by Gregory III, and church-wide extension by Gregory IV in 837.
- Common practices include visiting cemeteries to clean and adorn graves with flowers—often chrysanthemums—and lighting candles beside headstones.
- Catholic guidance calls the faithful to attend the Eucharist unless a justified impediment such as illness applies, with some places observing a vigil and, in certain practices, an octave.
- Eastern Orthodox communities mark a comparable remembrance on the first Sunday after Pentecost, and the day neighbors All Souls’ Day on November 2 alongside secular Halloween traditions.