“Praise God all you who serve him both great and small!”
These are the words of the responsory verse from the Office of Readings on November 1, the Feast of All Saints. While the closing of October often evokes images of pumpkins, ghosts, costumes, and candy, the opening of November begins a time of both remembrance and anticipation for Catholics. The last portion of the liturgical year before Advent begins with a celebration of the holy souls in Heaven, the Church Triumphant.
The Feast of All Saints was first established by Pope Boniface IV, upon the rededication of the Pantheon to the Virgin Mary and all the martyrs on May 13, 609. It was not until the 8th century that Pope Gregory III moved the Feast of All Saints to occur on the first of November. The shift was supposedly made in an effort to co-opt the pagan Lemuria festival for the appeasement of the restless or malevolent dead.
On Jesuit campuses, the feast is echoed on November 5th. The Feast of All Jesuit Saints takes a day to celebrate and invoke the prayers of the members of the Society of Jesus, the “great and small,” who have joined the Church Triumphant. Just as All Saints Day is followed by All Souls Day, the day after the Feast of All Jesuit Saints is followed by the Commemoration of All the Deceased of the Society of Jesus. Similar All Saints feasts are also celebrated in November by the Augustinian (Nov. 13), Benedictine (Nov. 13), Dominican (Nov. 7), and Seraphic (Nov. 29) orders, as each community remembers and invokes the prayers of the saints of their orders, great and small.
The celebration of the Feast of All Saints is an opportunity to remember the Saints whose great renown has glorified God. But the responsory of the Office reminds us that it is also an opportunity to celebrate and to request the intercession of all “small” holy Saints who died in anonymity and whose names will remain in obscurity. To include in the litany of holy names the saints who will never gain earthly renown is an opportunity for reflection on the universal vocation to sainthood.
It is fitting to acknowledge that extraordinary sanctity is found in the most ordinary, humble places especially as we remember our own King’s Advent, humbly veiled in mortal flesh and concealed in the obscurity of the womb.
St. Bernard says, “Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself. Therefore, we should aim at attaining this glory with a wholehearted and prudent desire” (Sermo 2: Opera omnia). It is fitting to foster this longing to join in their company especially as we look forward to our King’s second Advent, this time in brilliant glory.
In the hope of eternal life, let us strive for holiness in this life and beg the prayers of all the Saints: “All you holy Saints of God, pray for us.”
Featured image courtesy of Lawrence OP via Flickr
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