Everyone is familiar with the annual tradition of Halloween, from dressing up in costumes to receiving candy. Likewise, the holiday of Día de los Muertos or The Day of the Dead is celebrated widely in Mexico. These holidays play a large part in our modern celebrations, yet what people may not know is that they are both originally Catholic holidays.
Catholics of many moons ago would be familiar with the brief liturgical season of “Allhallowtide” which begins each year on October 31st and ends on November 2nd. It consists of three days of feasts and liturgical celebrations that stick out from the normal hebdomadal cycle of Saints and green Sundays. Allhallowtide begins with the Vigil of All Saints which is a Mass of usual penitential nature. The celebrant wears violet vestments, there is no Gloria or Creed, there is a tract instead of an Alleluia verse, flowers are not allowed to be placed on the altar, the organ isn’t to be played, and on top of all of this it was traditionally observed as a day of fasting and abstinence. Here is the Collect prayer from the vigil Mass which was traditionally seen as the prayer for the day: “Multiply thy grace upon us, O Lord our God, and grant that by following in holiness of life those whose glorious festival we anticipate, we may attain to their bliss.” This vigil represents the church militant, patiently awaiting the return of Our Lord and the triumph of the Saints.
The term Halloween comes from a transformation of the name of the vigil over time. In an older English nomenclature it was referred to as All Hallow’s Eve (or the eve of All who are Holy) which eventually became Halloween.
The Feast of All Saints then follows on November 1st which is still a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics. This festal Mass celebrates all of the Saints who are in heaven, canonized or not, and is celebrated in white or gold vestments. The Gloria and Creed are sung again. Traditionally the feast was given an Octave, which means that it was commemorated for eight days. Here is the Offertory Antiphon which is prayed from the Book of Wisdom on this feast: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead: but they are in peace. Alleluia.”
In stark contrast, what follows on November 2nd is the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, also known as All Soul’s Day, offered for all of the Holy Souls in Purgatory. The Mass takes the form of the usual Requiem Mass also known as the Mass for the Dead. What is unusual is that on this day a priest is allowed to say three Masses that day for all of the Holy Souls. The entire liturgy feels utterly atypical. The Mass is celebrated in black vestments, the somber and famous introit “Requiem Aeternam” is sung, the sequence “Dies Iræ” with its winding and unsettling tone drags on, and an empty casket draped in a black pall is placed at the front of the church. Simply put, the entire liturgy is geared to remind us about death. The “Dies Iræ” or “Day of Wrath” is one of the most famous hymns of the church. Its haunting lyrics give meaning to this day. Here are a few of the verses:
The day of wrath, that dreadful day,
shall heaven and earth in ashes lay,
as David and the Sybil say.
What horror must invade the mind
when the approaching Judge He shall find
and sift the deeds of all mankind!
Then shall with universal dread
the Book of Consciences be read
to judge the lives of all the dead.
How worthless are my prayers I know,
yet, Lord forbid that I should go
into the fires of endless woe.
Full of tears and full of dread
is that day that wakes the dead,
calling all, with solemn blast
to be judged there for all their past.
The Church in her great splendor has preserved this beautiful and lesser-known season of the year. Its beautiful prayers and liturgies that differ vastly from the rest of the year stand out to remind us of our fight here on earth, the horrifying reality that sin may cause us in our next life, and the triumph of the Saints in heaven which we one day hope to be a part of.
Born and Raised to Jewish parents in New York City, Kai Breskin is a recent convert to the Catholic Faith. A member of the Boston College class of 2026, he is studying Political Science, Philosophy, and History. His intellectual passions include Christian theology, history, and liturgical study. His hobbies include sailing, playing the piano, and singing, with a specific focus in Gregorian Chant.
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