All Saints

This past Sunday was All Saints Day. The day entered the Christian calendar in an odd fashion. Beginning with the persecutions in the early centuries of the Church, many who were killed for their faith were dubbed "saints." In the beginning, local communities might begin to venerate a local saint. They might also build a church on or near the site of his/her martyrdom or obtain a relic belonging to the saint for an existing church. These individual saints might well be recognized nowhere but in their original community.

As Christianity grew and the need for more order and organization was felt, many of these local saints were accepted by the whole Church as someone who represented the best of the faith. A day was set aside to remember them with a feast and a special Eucharist. Soon, the calendar began to fill with saints and by the 1500s there were as many as 70 or 80 feast days a year! (That's about one a week, which could really cut into production since feast days were holidays. How this got dealt with is another story though.)

Even so, religious leaders began to be concerned about saints who might never have been recognized for various reasons. To remedy the situation, a day was set aside to remember all the rest of the saint, especially those without a "day", and that day of recognition became All Saints Day.

Human beings being what they are, some were perplexed that not everyone was being prayed for who had died, so the day after All Saints Day was designated All Soul's Day so the Church could pray for all souls who had died in the faith, no matter what the circumstances. Most churches just do this remembering on All Saints Day and don't celebrate All Soul's Day. Thinking, I suppose, "enough is enough."

Like all good things, it's easy to let this good thing of remembering take on a life of its own. Or worse, just ignore the "saints." Even taking into account the exaggerated "lives" of some of the saints, especially the earlier ones, we would do well to learn from them and the sacrifices many of them made. A study of the lives of saints, once a very popular devotion, might be helpful again. At least, that's what I've been thinking. What about you?

Peace,

Jerry+