All Soul's Day/Tous Les Fidéles Défunts.
The commemoration of all the faithful departed is celebrated by the Church on 2 November, or, if this be a Sunday or a solemnity, on 3 November. The Office of the Dead must be recited by the clergy and all the Masses are to be of Requiem. The theological basis for the feast is the doctrine that the souls which, on departing from the body, are not perfectly cleansed from venial sins, or have not fully atoned for past transgressions, are debarred from the Beatific Vision, and that the faithful on earth can help them by prayers, almsdeeds and especially by the sacrifice of the Mass. (PURGATORY.) In the very early days of Christianity the names of the departed brethren who had fal;len asleep in the Lord, were entered in the diptychs. Later, in the early sixth century, it was customary in all Benedictine monasteries to hold a commemoration and prayers for all the deceased members at Whitsuntide.
In Spain there was such a day on Saturday before Sexagesima …More