All Hallows' Eve
Presently known as Halloween, the eve of All Hallows.
(All Saints' Day).
It is the vigil of All Saints (All Hallows) Day. Evening vigils with pious celebrations on the day before a major feast or solemnity were customary in historical Catholic Europe. Hallow, as a noun, is an old English word for saint. As a verb, hallow means to make something holy or to honor it as holy.
The Church traditionally observed Hallowe'en through a vigil "when worshippers would prepare themselves with prayers and fasting prior to the feast day itself.". This church service is known as the Vigil of All Hallows or the Vigil of All Saints. After the service, "suitable festivities and entertainments" often follow, as well as a visit to the graveyard or cemetery, where flowers and candles are often placed in preparation for All Saints' Day (All Hallows).
In the year 844 A.D. Pope Gregory III transferred the feast of All Saints (which honored especially the unknown martyrs and “hidden” saints whom we do not know by name) from May 13th to November 1st to coincide with a chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica which he dedicated to all the saints in heaven. His successor, Pope Gregory IV, extended the feast of the dedication to the universal Church.
In medieval times churches often displayed the bones and relics of their saints on Halloween (i.e. the vigil of All Saints Day) for public veneration.Long ago in Ireland and Britain, Christians would come together on All Hallows Eve to ask for God's blessing and protection from the evil in the world. The source of the modern celebrations stemmed from the donning of saintly and evil spirit costumes to act out the battle between good and evil.
Although Halloween is the eve of a solemn church festival, its celebration has always been associated with witches and hobgoblins and ghosts; in the past it was at times an occasion for the practice of sorcery and incantations, and even of cruelty. To avoid superstition and any negative influence of the occult, Halloween should not be honored or celebrated apart from Catholic truth (in the same way we should keep the birth of Christ at the center of Christmas, and the Resurrection of Christ at the center of Easter).A popular Catholic alternative is an All Saints Party, usually held on Halloween and featuring candy and costumes of saints rather than ghosts.
The three consecutive days — Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day — illustrate the Communion of Saints. Halloween is the preparation and combination of the two upcoming feasts. We, the Church Militant (those on earth, striving to get to heaven) pray for the Church Suffering (those souls in Purgatory) especially on All Souls Day and the month of November. We rejoice and honor the Church Triumphant (the saints, canonized and uncanonized) in heaven. We also ask the Saints' intercession for us.
Halloween is a day to reflect on Christ’s triumph over sin, death, and Satan; to meditate on our own mortality and duties to God; to shun sin and the devil; to give honor to the saints in heaven; and to pray for the souls of the faithful departed in purgatory.
Happy All Hallow's eve!
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