All Saints Day: What is this occasion and why is it celebrated?

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Christians around the world mark All Saints Day on November 1, a day when "heaven comes that much closer to this side of eternity," as a Catholic priest told Fox News Digital this week. 

Also known as "All Hallows' Day" or the "Solemnity of All Saints," All Saints Day is a celebration of saints, both known and unknown. 

It is followed by All Souls Day, observed on November 2. 

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All Saints Day has been celebrated on November 1 since the 8th century, Fr. Patrick Briscoe, O.P., a Washington, D.C.-based Dominican friar told Fox News Digital. 

"It's easy to get bogged down in this life," said Briscoe, acknowledging the numerous tragedies happening around the world today. "All Saints Day calls us out of the mire. The Solemnity of All Saints reminds Christians everywhere that we weren't made for this life alone; our eternal destiny is heaven." 

"The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs" by Fra Angelico. The celebration of All Saints Day is for all people in heaven, known and unknown.  (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

In Christianity, a saint is someone who is in heaven. 

In certain denominations, "canonized" saints are those who are recognized as definitely being in heaven.

Kanṓn, the Greek root of the word "canonize," means "measuring rod," or "standard." So the term canonized refers to virtuous people to whom Christians can compare themselves. 

Everyone is called to be a saint, Fr. Briscoe explained to Fox News Digital, noting that "every Christian is called to holiness." 

"It’s a catchall day, honoring the glorious multitude of heaven as one great choir of servants around the throne."

"But on All Saints Day, we honor those great men and women whose virtuous lives are worthy of imitation. It’s a catchall day, honoring the glorious multitude of heaven as one great choir of servants around the throne," he added, referring to a passage in the Book of Revelation.

"The saints we honor are those who have gone before us whose lives are marked by their faithfulness to Jesus and the Gospels," said Briscoe. 

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The Gospel passage read at Catholic masses around the world on All Saints Day comes from the Gospel of Matthew, and "lists the path to holiness we are called to live." 

Said Briscoe, "As we hear the Beatitudes listed one after another, we hear Jesus giving a new way of life. The Beatitudes are the heart of Christian morality. They are how Christians are to live."

The Beatitudes, he also noted, "are not only the way to holiness, they are the way to happiness." 

All Saints Day is a "catchall" day to honor and celebrate everyone who is in heaven, said Fr. Patrick Briscoe, O.P. of Washington, D.C. (iStock/Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, O.P.)

"We don’t have to be sad to be saints! Holiness will make us happy, and it will make us more fully ourselves," he said. 

All Saints Day also highlights how different the saints were during their earthly lives, said Briscoe.

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"Evil is fundamentally repetitive and uncreative. And that’s because sin and the devil are ultimately angry and broken," he said. "But holiness is creative and dynamic. And the differences we see in so many of the saints cause joy and hope for all of us still here below." 

"Holiness is creative and dynamic. And the differences we see in so many of the saints cause joy and hope for all of us."

In the Catholic Church in the United States and in numerous other countries, the Solemnity of All Saints is observed as a holy day of obligation, meaning Catholics must attend Mass, according to the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Some Protestant denominations also observe All Saints Day; Lutheranism is one of them.

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Rev. Hans Fiene, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Crestwood, Missouri, told Fox News Digital that "while Lutherans have many profound disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Reformation was never a reactionary one."

He added, "It was never our desire to throw the liturgical baby out with the false doctrine bathwater."

Rev. Hans Fiene, a Lutheran pastor based in Missouri, discussed why his church observes All Saints Day.  (Matt Doebler/iStock)

"If the historic practices of the western church were not contrary to the pure Gospel, we saw no reason to jettison them." 

All Saints Day, and the concept of saints, were some of these practices, said Fiene. 

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"Lutherans have historically celebrated the feasts of various saints while also leaning on a different understanding of sainthood than that of the Roman church," he said. 

"All Saints Day is a good example of this," said Fiene. "Rejecting the complexity of the Catholic canonization process, we confess that all who believe in Christ have received His purifying blood and thus have been made saints — that is, holy ones."

"All Saints Day is not merely a celebration of obscure miracle-working beatified ones left off the liturgical calendar. It's a celebration of all believers, especially those who have fallen asleep in Christ."

For Lutherans, "All Saints Day is not merely a celebration of obscure miracle-working beatified ones left off the liturgical calendar. It's a celebration of all believers, especially those who have fallen asleep in Christ," he said. 

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"For us, it's a day to thank God for the faithful witness of St. Peter and St. Paul, but also our sainted mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and any other beloved Christian who now joins our song of praise from the other side of paradise," said Fiene. 

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