分类: All Souls Day

All Souls Day - November 2nd

11/2/2019

ALL SOULS DAY: SOULMASS: NOVEMBER 2nd

Fire has always been a symbol of immortality, and the immortality of the soul was symbolized by lighting fires during the night of All Souls; perhaps the simpler people thought that their little furze fires dotted over the hillsides would show the way to souls who were that day making their journey from purgatory to heaven!

Long after the Catholic faith had been cast out of this country, relics remained at Soulmass of the once universal praying for the dead, though, as was inevitable, these became empty and corrupt. Even in the 19th century girls still went "souling" from door to door; people baked and ate soul cakes, people, who would have abhorred the idea that the dead can be helped by prayers, would say on this day: "A soul cake, a soul cake, God have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul cake." A soul cake was a sort of oat cake, which, in Catholic times was baked specially as a gift for poor and needy people, and these people on receiving it would pray for the dead belonging to those who gave it.

All Souls' day could be made the feast day of the dead members of any family. One could pray in general for all the souls in purgatory, but surely the members of the family have first claim. Where there are children in a family one can make a soul cake for each one and ask each to undertake to pray particularly for one dead member of the family.

When the dead are buried not too far away an annual expedition could be made to the churchyard with flowers, or to tidy and clear their graves. One has only to walk through any churchyard to wish that All Souls' day could be celebrated in such a way by the whole country! In this way, starting from a quite unambitious level, children could be taught to take a real interest in the welfare of the dead members of their family and could come to have a real devotion to the souls in Purgatory.
Source: A Candle is Lighted, 1945

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All Souls Day - November 2nd - Commemoration of the Dead

11/2/2018

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TO pray and to procure prayers for the dead is at once an act of charity towards our neighbor, and an act of charity towards ourselves.

FIRST POINT — To pray for the dead is an act of charity towards our neighbor. One of the most important acts of charity is almsgiving. Now, St. Francis de Sales says that in praying for the souls in purgatory there is a true almsgiving. When you pray for these poor souls you clothe their nakedness, you furnish food for the hungry, you console the loneliness of those who are abandoned, you dry the tears of those who weep, and console the misfortune of those who are desolate; in a word, by this single act of praying for the dead you fulfil all the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. O charity for the dead, most worthy of exercising our faith and our piety ! How this excels all the other works of ordinary charity ! It has qualities which are wanting necessarily in other works of charity. It is most easy to perform, since we can always pray. It is opportune, since the need of the souls we assist is always real. It has the merit of being well placed, since we assist the elect. It has permanency, since eternal reward results from it, if by our prayer a soul in purgatory ceases to suffer because she has entered forever into the bosom of her God. But there is a more decisive consideration. It is that this almsgiving is not only a duty of charity; it is often a duty of justice. Here let us recall the past. Are there not among the souls in purgatory some parents, relatives, and friends of whom we were the occasion or the accomplices of the faults which they now expiate so rigorously? Are there not in purgatory some friends who suffer because they shared in the tepidity, the vanity, the uselessness of our life? Are there not there a father, a mother, or relatives who are deprived of the happiness of seeing God only to expiate a fatal condescension in yielding to our weaknesses, sparing our sensibilities, by refusing us, through love, a counsel, a reprimand, when religion commanded them to counsel or reprove us? Here there is no question of exercising charity towards them; it is a simple act of justice which we owe them to pray for them. We are now confronted by a great act of reparation. Let us pray, therefore, for these poor souls who are unhappy because of us. We should offer, or cause to be offered, for them the holy sacrifice of the Mass. It was for the dead that at first all the fruits of the sacrifice were applied; since Jesus, after His death, descended into Limbo, whence He delivered the just of the Old Law by applying to them the merits of the blood which He had just shed. The effects of this divine blood are still the same. When the priest, says St. John Chrysostom, offers the sacrifice of the Mass, the angels hasten near the altar; they gather in golden cups the blood of the New Alliance; they then fly towards heaven, penetrate the darkened abodes of the just souls in which they are purified; they pour out on them the precious blood, and their sufferings are lighter.

SECOND POINT — To pray for the dead is an excellent act of charity towards ourselves. Let us cast a look on our past life. How many infidelities we see; how many days, how many years, perhaps, have passed without grace or without the fervor of charity! True, indeed, we have repented; the sacramental absolution, joined to our repentance, has covered, before God, all the iniquities of the past. But if the stain no longer exists in the soul, the debt for the soul always exists; the sin no longer exists, but the obligation of punishment remains. Now, what penance have we done? Although we should give ourselves to God henceforth during our whole life, it shall be no less true that the portion of our existence which is behind that has been taken from Him. It is a void which our tears shall never fill; it is an abyss in which we shall look in vain for works of grace. It depends on ourselves to fill that void which seems irreparable. We have deprived God of a portion of our existence, then let us give to Him in exchange an other existence. We have taken from Him a portion of our soul; let us give to Him in exchange another soul; let us give Him many souls, and as many as possible. Behold how by prayer for the dead we shall repair the past. Prayer for the dead shall be useful for us in the present. When these souls shall have been delivered by our prayers, shall it be possible for them to remain indifferent to those who were here below the occasion and the instrument of their deliverance? Is not heaven the country of reward? Oh, how the delivered soul conjures God not to forget the souls who were on earth her benefactors! Oh, how in glory she intercedes and prays for us! in our temptations, what assistance! in our sorrows, what consolations! in our prayers, what help! in our agony, what support! And on the day of judgment, when we must give an account of our mission to Him who sent us to earth, what an advocate, what an intercessor we shall have prepared for ourselves by our charity! Let us therefore understand that by doing everything for the souls in purgatory we are doing everything for ourselves. And when at length it shall come our turn to quit this earth, and when it shall be necessary for us to suffer in expiation before reaching glory, how we shall rejoice at our charity today ! And then those souls unmindful of their brethren, who forget the dead, and who have in their heart neither a remembrance nor a prayer — God shall permit that they shall be forgotten, as they themselves forgot the dead. But on compassionate souls the words of the Son of God shall be accomplished: "It shall be measured for you, as you yourself have measured for others." Their memory shall be treasured in the minds of the faithful as the memory of the dead remained living in their thoughts. They shall speak their name at the holy altar when they shall have pronounced the names of those who have preceded them in glory! Ah, how they shall then rejoice that they had heard the counsels of the Church and followed them! How they shall praise those practices which were so easy and which shall have been for them so fruitful!

O my God, enkindle in my heart devotion for the dead. To pray for them is to contribute to Thy glory; it is to practice charity towards our neighbor and to labor for ourselves. May I understand it, and seize every opportunity of accomplishing a duty which is as much for the interests of my salvation as for the interests of Thy glory.

Source: Short Instructions for Every Sunday of the Year and the Principal Feasts, Imprimatur 1897

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All Souls Day - Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them O'Lord

11/3/2014

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After our holy mother the Church has celebrated with great pomp and solemnity the feast of All Saints; after having raised our eyes to heaven to look upon the great joy above us, so that we may be attracted to do something to merit a place there, she proposes to us today a more gloomy but still a most consoling practice. She bids us make a commemoration of those who are detained in the prison of purgatory: we are to think of the sufferings of the poor souls detained
there, that we may come to their assistance. She tells us that it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be freed from their sins. I know that Christians in general do not need much persuasion to make them think of this holy work. We know that if we go to confession and communion for the benefit of those poor souls, if we fast, give alms, or have Masses said that by these means we appease the justice of God.

The holy souls now know the value of good works and indulgences: but they cannot do any good action, nor can they gain any indulgences except those obtained by the living and applied to them. Still there are many young people who think so little of the life to come, that even the state of purgatory is to them a matter of no moment; they have no thought of the great pains endured there. They come to church on this day from custom, and by their exterior irreverence scandalize the faithful and affect the benefit of or destroy the good altogether of many a prayer which would be said for those detained in that place of torment.

Paradise, my dear young friends, is that most beautiful place, that magnificent celestial city, whose walls are built of gold and precious stones, where none can dwell except those who are pure and immaculate. Hence it is that the souls in purgatory, how holy soever they may be and dear to God, are detained in that prison until they have atoned for every sin, even the smallest. Most of us, even the best, have to accuse ourselves of slight lies, little acts of disobedience, and many other venial faults, for which we have not had even a thought of sorrow: still we are told, "Thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing."

This atonement is made by suffering which God inflicts as punishment in order to purify those souls. This suffering consists of a fire so terrible that the hottest flames on earth would be pleasant in comparison. St. Gregory says that it is a fire of the same nature as hell. We would have hearts of stone if we saw people burning in a fire and would not try to rescue them. We know that the poor souls are in such a terrible purifying fire; then shall we not try to succor them? God has given us the right to come to their relief by our prayers.

The souls in purgatory deserve our sympathy; they are holy souls, destined for heaven and the sight of God, and many of them are connected with us by the ties of blood, if not of religion and humanity. They are souls who were once on earth, breathed the same air, lived in the same houses, and slept in the beds which we now occupy. Perhaps in that sea of flames is your father or mother, brother or sister, whom you pretended to love so tenderly in life, whose property you inherited, who has sacrificed all for you. Are you not almost bound by justice to help him or her? "They are your flesh and blood."

My dear young people, your dead friends and relatives who died well may be there, and this relationship appeals to your kindly feelings. Remember your father and mother, who when on their death-bed said: "My child, will you forget me after I am dead?" And you replied with anguish: "I promise, with all my heart, that as long as I live I shall not forget to pray for you." And yet scarce had a few days passed when you forgot all your affectionate vows.

Modern Catholic young men may perhaps say there is no purgatory; because nowadays pretended enlightenment is so great that our wise people know everything. They deny some of the dogmas of our faith, things of common belief among us, which rest on good foundation. But I am sure that your Catholic education has impressed on your minds the reality of purgatory, though you may be rather negligent in the performance of the duty of praying for the dead. Perhaps you say a few prayers for them, but they are cold; you hear some Masses for them, but with distraction; you say the Rosary for them, but carelessly. Now that you are firmly persuaded of your duty in this regard, pray earnestly for the dead and you may be sure God will hear you and apply the satisfaction of your prayers to them. Should your prayers be the means of releasing a soul from purgatory sooner than it would otherwise have been released, how grateful will not that soul be to you! how interested in your behalf! how anxious for all your needs, temporal and spiritual! That soul will certainly stand before the throne of God and say, "Lord, I recommend to Thee my benefactor: it is he whom Thou didst hear in my behalf, and in answer to his prayers liberated me from the flames of purgatory. Reward him then, my God, for that kindness." If that person is in the state of grace, he will persevere in the love of God to the end of his days, and should he be in sin he will obtain the grace of conversion; this soul will go also to the Blessed Virgin and will say, "To thee I commend my generous liberator; obtain for him every grace from thy divine Son; give him the necessary power to save his soul."

That soul will also approach the angels, and say: "my dear angels of heaven, now my companions and associates, I am anxious to commend to you him who has done so much
for me on earth; he has prayed to God for me, offered Masses, Rosaries and indulgences for me, so that I am now here praising God, while I should have had to stay in that place of
torment a long time to come, to satisfy God's justice for my faults during life, had he not interceded for me." On all sides will this poor liberated soul gain advocates for us, and God Himself will shower many blessings, both spiritual and temporal, on us.

Let us therefore pray diligently and with faith for the souls in purgatory; let us especially say indulgenced prayers: among which the Rosary is certainly the richest. Have your beads always in your hand and say a few Hail Marys on them now and then, for you know that God has mercy on the poor souls in their pains when we pray. Ask Our Lady and the saints to help them.

Cardinal Baronius knew of a person who had greatly at heart the necessities of the poor souls in purgatory. In every possible way he sought means of relieving them; he gave alms, had Masses said, prayed and had communities to pray, all for the souls in purgatory. He took sick, and when death was at hand, Satan, with his cohorts of wicked spirits, surrounded his bed. The distressed man did not know how to keep up his courage. His despair was at its worst when he saw the heavens open, and a great number of the heavenly court descending to his rescue and help; the dying man felt new courage, and asked them who they were. They answered that they were the souls that he had rescued from purgatory by his good works, and now had come to conduct him to heaven. What joy must have come over this poor man! how he must have valued that devotion to the souls in purgatory which had brought to him so many benefits, and the grace of courage at the hour of death.

St. Peter Damian when still very young lost his parents. One of his brothers gave him a home in his house, but his wife, who was a hard woman, gave him barely enough to eat. One day he found a piece of money and instead of buying something to eat with it he brought it to a priest and asked him to say a Mass for his father and mother. This holy action procured him vocation to the priesthood and he became a great saint and most useful to the Church; he was ordained priest, was Bishop of Ostia and afterwards cardinal.

Source: Sermons for Children's Masses, Imprimatur 1900

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Prayers for the Poor Souls

11/2/2012

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Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great that the following prayer would release 1000 souls from Purgatory each time it is said.

"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most precious blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory. Amen."
Approval and Recommendation (sqd.) M. Cardinal Pahiarca, Lisbon, Portugal, March 4, 1936.

NOVENA TO OUR GUARDIAN ANGEL FOR THE HOLY SOULS
TO BE SAID FOR NINE CONSECUTIVE DAYS

O HOLY ANGEL, whom God, by the effect of His goodness and His tender regard for my welfare, has charged with the care of my conduct, and who assists me in all my wants and comforts me in all my afflictions, who supports me when I am discouraged and continually obtains for me new favors, I return thee profound thanks, and I earnestly beseech thee, O most amiable protector, to continue thy charitable care and defense of me against the malignant attacks of all my enemies. Keep me away from all occasions of sin. Obtain for me the grace of listening attentively to thy holy inspirations and of faithfully putting them into practice, In particular, I implore thee to obtain for me the relief and deliverance of all the Souls in Purgatory, the ones who prayed for the Souls themselves while still on earth; the forgotten and abandoned Souls; the souls of my relatives and friends; the souls of priests and religious; the souls of all those to whom I am obligated by charity to pray for and may have neglected by laxity in memory; and most especially for the Soul I here name in this novena.

[Mention the person or think of him.]

Protect me in all the temptations and trials of this life. but most
especially at the hour of my death, and do not leave me until thou hast conducted me into the presence of my Creator in the mansions of everlasting happiness. Amen.

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All Souls Day

11/2/2012

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            Taken from: Goffine's Devout Instruction,
                            Imprimatur 1874

What is All Souls' Day?
    It is the day set apart by the Catholic Church for the special devout commemoration of all those souls who have departed this
life in the grace and friendship of God, for whom we pray, that they may soon be released by God from the prison of purgatory.

What is purgatory?
    Purgatory is a middle state of souls, suffering for a time on account of their sins. St. Paul writes to the Corinthians: "And the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built there upon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." (i. Cor. iii. 13 15.) "And when St. Paul," says St. Ambrose (Serm. 20. in Ps. cxviii.) "says, yet so as by fire, he shows that such a man indeed becomes happy, having suffered the punishment of fire, but not, like the wicked, continually tormented in eternal fire." St. Paul's words, then, can only be understood to refer to the fire of purification, as the infallible Church has always explained them.

Are the heretics right in denying that there is such a place of purification as purgatory?
    By no means, for by such denial they oppose the holy Scriptures, tradition and reason. The holy Scriptures teach that there is a purgatory: it is related in the Second Book of Machabees, that Judas Machabeus sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem, to be used in the temple,to obtain prayers for those who fell in battle, for he believed it a good and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins. But for what dead shall we pray? Those in heaven do not require our prayers; to those in hell they are of no avail; we must then pray for those who are in the place of purification. Christ speaks of a prison in the future life, from which no man comes out until he has paid the last farthing. (Matt. v. 25, 26.) This prison cannot be hell, because from hell there is never any release; it must be then a place of purification. Again Christ speaks of sin which shall be forgiven neither in this world nor in the next, (Matt. xii. 32.) from which it follows that there is a remittance of some sins in the next world; but this can be neither in heaven nor in hell, consequently in purgatory. As the council of Trent says, (Sess. 6. c. 30.) the Church has always taught, according to the old tradition of the Fathers, in all her councils, that there is a purgatory, and every century gives proofs of the continual belief of all true Christians in a purgatory. Finally, man's unblinded reason must accept a purgatory; for how many depart this earth before having accomplished the great work of their own purification? They cannot enter heaven, for St. John tells us: There shall not enter into it any thing defiled. (Apoc. xxi. 27.) The simple separation of the soul from the body does not make it pure, yet God cannot reject it as He does the soul of the hardened sinner in hell; there must then be a middle place, a purgatory, where those who have departed not free from stain, must be purified. See how the doctrine of the Church, reason and the holy Scriptures all agree, and do not let yourself be led away by false arguments from those who not only believe in no purgatory, but even in no hell, so that they may sin with so much more impunity.

For what, how much, and for how long must we suffer in
purgatory?
    Concerning this the Church has made no decision, though much has been written by the Fathers of the Church on the subject. Concerning the severity of the punishment in purgatory, St. Augustine writes: "This fire is more painful than any that man can suffer in this life." This should urge us to continual sanctification and atonement, so that we may escape the fearful judgment of God.

How can we aid the suffering souls in purgatory?
    St. Augustine writes: "It is not to be doubted that we can aid the souls of the departed by the prayers of the Church, by the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and by the alms which we offer for them." The Church has always taught that prayers for the faithful departed are useful and good, and she has always offered Masses for them.

What should urge us to aid the suffering souls in purgatory?
1. The consideration of the belief of the Church in the communion of saints, by which all the members of the Church upon earth, in heaven, and in purgatory are united by the bonds of love, like the members of one body, and as the healthy members of a body sympathize with the suffering members, seeking to aid them, so should we assist our suffering brethren in purgatory.
2. The remembrance that it is God's will that we should practice charity towards one another, and that fearful judgments are threatened those who show no charity to a brother in need, together with the recollection of God's love which desires that all men should be happy in heaven.
3. We should be urged to it by love for ourselves, for if we should b condemned to the pains of purification , we would assuredly desire our living brethren to pray for us and perform good works for our sake, while the souls who have found redemption, perhaps
through our prayers, will not fail to reward us by interceding for us.

Can we aid the souls in purgatory by gaining indulgences?
    Yes, for indulgences, (as explained in the Instruction on the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost,) are a complete or a partial remittance of the temporal punishment due to sin, bestowed by the Church to penitent sinners from the treasury of the merits of Christ and His saints. If we gain such a remittance, we can apply it to the souls in purgatory. Such an indulgence, however, can be transferred only to one soul.

For which souls should we pray?
    We should, on this day especially, offer prayers and good works for all the faithful departed, but particularly for our parents, relations, friends and benefactors; for those who are most acceptable to God; for those who have suffered the longest, or who have' the longest yet to suffer; for those who are most painfully tormented ; for those who are the most forsaken; for those who are nearest redemption; for those who are suffering on our account; for those who hope in our prayers; for those who during life have injured us, or been injured by us ; and for our spiritual brethren.

When and by what means was this yearly commemoration of the departed introduced into the Church?
    The precise time of its introduction is not known. Tertullian (A. D. 160) writes that the early Christians held a yearly commemoration of the faithful departed. Towards the end of the l0th century St. Odilo, Abbot of the Benedictines at Cluny, directed that the yearly commemoration of the faithful departed should be observed on the 2nd of November with prayers, alms and the Sacrifice of the Mass, which time and manner of celebration spread through various dioceses, and was officially confirmed by Pope John XIX. This day was appointed that, having the day previously rejoiced at the glory of the saints in heaven, we might on this day most properly pray for those who are yet doing penance for their sins and sigh in purgatory for their redemption.

    The Introit of this day's Mass as of all Masses for the dead reads: Eternal rest give to them, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon them. A hymn, O God, becometh Thee in Sion; and a vow shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem: hear my prayer; all flesh shall come to Thee. Eternal rest give to them, Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon them.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant to the souls of Thy servants departed the remission of all their sins: that through pious supplications they may obtain the pardon which they have always desired. Who livest, etc.

EPISTLE, (i. Cor. xv. 51 57.) BRETHREN, behold, I tell you a mystery : we shall all indeed rise again, but we shall not all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible: and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? Now the sting of death is sin: and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

GOSPEL. (John v. 28 29.) At that time, Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews: Amen, amen, I say unto you, that the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so he hath given to the Son also to have life in himself: and he hath given him power to do judgment, because he is the Son of man. Wonder not at this, for the hour "cometh wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life: but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

    The Epistle and Gospel of this day speak of the resurrection of all men and of the judgment, when every one according1 as he has lived, sinful and impenitent, or pure and innocent, will receive an eternally miserable or an eternally happy life. Purgatory will then end and there will be only heaven and hell. It remains with us to choose which of these two we shall possess.

At the Offertory of the Mass the priest prays:
    O Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the deep pit: deliver them from the mouth of the lion, that hell may not swallow them up, and they may not fall into darkness: but may the holy standard-bearer, Michael, introduce them to the holy light: which Thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed. We offer to Thee, O Lord, sacrifices and prayers: do Thou receive them in behalf of those souls whom we commemorate this day. Grant them, O Lord, to pass from death to that life which Thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed. We may profitably and devoutly repeat the following as often as we pass a graveyard.
V. From the gates of hell,
R. Deliver their souls, O Lord.
V. Eternal rest give to them, O Lord,
R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.
V. May they rest in peace,
R. Amen.
V. May the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace,   Amen.

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All Souls Day - November 2nd

All Souls Day - November 2nd - Commemoration of the Dead

All Souls Day - Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them O'Lord

Prayers for the Poor Souls

All Souls Day

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