Today is All Saints’ Day, a holiday where the Catholic Church celebrates all the canonized, as well as the saints who have achieved the ideal of the Christian life and have not been canonized, reports Jutarnji List.
All Saints’ Day is traditionally celebrated on November 1, a national holiday in the Republic of Croatia.
The church liturgy emphasizes that the center of the feast of All Saints is not death but life. God calls all people of all nations and all times into the eternal communion of his love. Christ is the redeemer of all men, and God calls them all to be holy.
Zagreb today | Sanjin Strukic/PIXSELL
The worship of the tombs of the saints was known in Judaism, and then two tombs were important: the prophet Isaiah near the pond of Siloam and Zechariah in the Kidron Valley.
With Christianity, the day of death began to be called the day of heavenly birth, which they especially applied to the dates of the deaths of their martyrs. Their worship developed as early as the 2nd century.
Christians first celebrated the martyrs in particular, and over time ascetics, consecrated virgins, and bishops were highlighted as special testimonies of the faith. But, as it is understood today, the notion of saints and canonization can be spoken of only from the 10th century. The first official canonization took place in 993, during the reign of Pope John XV, and the first canonized saint was St. Ulrich.
Zagreb today | Sanjin Strukic/PIXSELL
According to the Second Vatican Council, the veneration of saints stems from the lasting connection between the earthly and heavenly Churches – members of each other, albeit in different degrees and ways, share the same love for God and neighbor, and sing the same song of praise to their God.
All Souls Day is celebrated every year on November 2, when we remember all our deceased. On that day, visits to graves and cemeteries are a sign of attention and faith. On that day, people pray for the souls of their dear deceased, light candles on their graves, and attend Holy Mass, thus connecting with their prayers and begging the mercy of God to cleanse them as soon as possible of all weaknesses and to bring them “where every tear disappears from the eye.”
All Souls Day, or the Day of the Dead, expresses hope and faith in the afterlife.
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