The month of November being dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory is a calling from the Church to the faithful to pray for the souls of the dead, that they might be purified and share in Heaven along with the saints. It is important to remember that the souls in purgatory need our prayers in order to further their purification so that they might enter Heaven sooner. They have to (and we hopefully will) be purified in order to enter Heaven, as St. John writes in Revelation, “But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false” (Revelation 21:27). As the church militant we should always pray for the faithful departed, but especially during November we are urged to pray evermore for their sake.
During this month, there is a wonderful plenary indulgence that can be gained for a soul in purgatory. All one must do is piously visit a church and recite the Creed and the Our Father on All Souls’ Day (November 2nd). On a personal note, I was extraordinarily surprised when I first found out that a plenary indulgence (which is a complete remission of temporal punishment for sins) can be obtained for a soul in Purgatory by just visiting a church and reciting two prayers. The Church makes it so easy for us; all we have to do is pray a little and incredible things can happen!Another interesting note about All Souls’ Day is that it is one of the few days when a Catholic priest has license to trinicate. Because the Mass is a holy sacrifice celebrated on an altar, and not a meal eaten on a table, the Church justly limits the amount of times in a single day in which a priest may celebrate Holy Mass. Normally, this limit is one Mass per day, although there are exceptions to this rule, including license to bi- or even tri-nicate (which means to celebrate two or three Masses in one day). Outside of grave necessity, All Souls’ Day (November 2nd) is one of these days, the only other day on which this indult is applicable being Christmas Day (December 25th).
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