All Soul's Day celebrate all passing people or just the faithful in purgatory...?

[GodHeals]

Hi,
Does All Soul’s Day celebrate all passing people or just the faithful in purgatory awaiting to enter into heaven, and who are in need of our prayers?

Also, there is no need to pray for those in hell, right? Even if the Church has not yet formally said any one particular person is there, not even Judas as far as I understand. But we know it is a real place with real people who have gone and are there for all eternity.

God Bless You!
Brian

I saw this post:

Re: Is there a difference between All saints Day and All Souls Day?
Dear B,

All Saints Day is the celebration of all the saints in heaven. There are the true heroes and heroines of humanity. Most of them we have never heard of. Everyone who is in heaven is such a saint.

See All Saints Day at the original Catholic Encyclopedia.

All Souls Day is the day in which we commemorate all the faithful departed and pray for those who are in purgatory awaiting their entrance into heaven.

See All Souls Day at the original Catholic Encyclopedia.

See Purgatory at the original Catholic Encyclopedia.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=76577

 

[Ad_Orientem]

I see what you mean about Father’s answer–commemorate the faithful departed *and *pray for those in purgatory. This could be understood to mean the faithful departed and the souls in purgatory are two different classes of people. After all, someone who dies and goes straight heaven could be considered a member of the “faithful departed”; and when someone dies we don’t ordinarily know their destination (apart from special revelation or later canonization).

I could be wrong, but I don’t think Father meant it that way. The “and” is just separating the two activities, commemorating and interceding. We do not intercede for those in heaven because they don’t need our intercession (or for those in hell, because they cannot benefit from it). If we don’t know a person’s destination, we intercede in good faith, and if they are not in purgatory, it is a pious belief that the graces we obtain will go to someone else who needs them.

 

[M-Dent]

In addition to what Ad Orientem has posted.

This entry from Catholicculture.org is noteworthy. It can also nicely lead one into a healthy understanding of what an indulgence is.

It is during November that the Church meditates on the Communion of Saints, which is the charitable link with the faithful who have already reached heaven (Church Triumphant), the faithful departed who are still expiating their sins in Purgatory (Church Suffering) and of the pilgrim faithful here on earth (Church Militant). “In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1475).

On November 1st the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints, a Holy Day of Obligation, honoring all those faithful in heaven. Throughout November the Church also remembers our Faithful Departed. The need and duty of prayer for the departed souls has been acknowledged by the Church at all times. It is recommended in the Scriptures of the Old Testament: **“It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.”(2 Macch. 12, 46). ** This duty has found expression not only in public and private prayers but especially in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the repose of souls.

Throughout November the Church prays for all who are in the purifying fires of Purgatory, waiting for the day when they will join the company of the saints in heaven. The celebration of Mass is the highest means the Church can provide for charity for the dead, but we can also relieve their sufferings through our prayers, sufferings and penances. We can also help the Poor Souls by doing acts and prayers that have indulgences attached to them. There are many indulgences, applicable only to the Souls in Purgatory, that can be obtained during the month of November.

catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1178

 

[Nelka]

All Saints’ Day (in the Roman Catholic Church officially the Solemnity of All Saints and also called All Hallows or Hallowmas[1]), often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on 1 November by parts of Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity, in honor of all the saints, known and unknown.

In Western Christian theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven. It is a national holiday in many historically Catholic countries. In the Roman Catholic Church, the next day, All Souls’ Day, specifically commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven. Catholics celebrate All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in the fundamental belief that there is a prayerful spiritual communion between those in the state of grace who have died and are either being purified in purgatory or are in heaven (the ‘church penitent’ and the ‘church triumphant’, respectively), and the ‘church militant’ who are the living. Other Christian traditions define, remember and respond to the saints in different ways.

 

[andrewstx]

I know that I was really confused as an Episcopalian. They had All Saints combined with All Souls on Nov.1. Don’t they know the difference? The current
Episcopal calendar lists the two days seperatley as does the Catholic calendar. But as far as I know they still combine the two.

Another reason I converted.

 

[OaTmEaL]

Sadly, the liturgical revisions following Vatican Council II removed the word “soul” from all of the prayers said during the three Masses the can be offered on All Souls Day. That must be why the day is now officially known as “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed”.

Think about that for a minute: The highest form of prayer in the Church no longer publicly prays for souls on All Souls Day.

 

[GodHeals]

I see what you mean about Father’s answer–commemorate the faithful departed *and *pray for those in purgatory. This could be understood to mean the faithful departed and the souls in purgatory are two different classes of people. After all, someone who dies and goes straight heaven could be considered a member of the “faithful departed”; and when someone dies we don’t ordinarily know their destination (apart from special revelation or later canonization).

I could be wrong, but I don’t think Father meant it that way. The “and” is just separating the two activities, commemorating and interceding. We do not intercede for those in heaven because they don’t need our intercession (or for those in hell, because they cannot benefit from it). If we don’t know a person’s destination, we intercede in good faith, and if they are not in purgatory, it is a pious belief that the graces we obtain will go to someone else who needs them.

Thank you!

 

[GodHeals]

Sadly, the liturgical revisions following Vatican Council II removed the word “soul” from all of the prayers said during the three Masses the can be offered on All Souls Day. That must be why the day is now officially known as “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed”.

Think about that for a minute: The highest form of prayer in the Church no longer publicly prays for souls on All Souls Day.

Maybe that helps delineate the difference between those souls in purgatory on the way to heaven verses those in hell… the word faithful meaning those in friendship with God when they die. What do you think?