It’s not just the fact that there are 54 days before Christmas that is exciting. Today is a tremendous holiday celebrated in many Christian churches called All Saints’ Day.
When you think of saints who comes to your mind whether you are Catholic or not. Pope John Paul II? Joan of Ark? Francis of Assisi? Mother Teresa? There are so many saints whose names we don’t know, like martyrs; for example, the priests and nuns who were killed for speaking out against Hitler. In fact, everyone who spoke out against Hitler and was murdered for it is a martyr.
There is even a very positive story in “The Catholic Herald” of a seminarian being ordained a priest by a bishop in the Dachau prison camp.
These aren’t the saints you think of when you think of All Saints Day, these are:
Who do you celebrate on All Saints’ Day?
How do you know who to celebrate on All Saints’ Day, what about the martyrs you don’t know about or the obscure saints, like Saint Drogo, the patron saint of coffee and shephards.
“While initially, All Saints Day was a way of honoring martyrs who died in the name of religion and well-known saints such as St. John and St. Peter, some people have started recognizing people in their own lives who have lived in ‘really devout ways,’ [Julia] Campagna [director of Mission & Campus Ministry at Notre Dame of Maryland University] said.”
“Today, we think of All Saints Day (recognizing) that anyone can be a saint,” she said. “We talk about the saints, known and unknown, named and unnamed.”
At Notre Dame of Maryland, community members from many religious backgrounds attend Mass because it’s a shared holiday, she said. The university collects names and photos of saints in people’s lives, then hangs the names up in the chapel.
“That can be somebody’s grandma,” she said, adding that people can recognize those who have lived their lives in a way they want to follow.
There is also a communion of saints, which is the recognition that individuals cannot do anything alone, she said.
“The people who have come before us and the people who will come after us, we’re deeply connected,” she said. “We’re deeply connected with each other. For Catholics and many Christians, the opportunity, the invitation, once a year to do that as a practice, as a community together in real life, it kind of helps us through the rest of the year.”
Why is it celebrated on November 1?
“Some scholars propose that churches in the British Isles began celebrating All Saints on 1 November in the 8th century to coincide with or replace the Celtic festival known in Ireland and Scotland as Samhain. James Frazer represents this school of thought by arguing that 1 November was chosen because Samhain was the date of the Celtic festival of the dead. Ronald Hutton argues instead that the earliest documentary sources indicate Samhain was a harvest festival with no particular ritual connections to the dead. Hutton proposes that 1 November was a Germanic rather than a Celtic idea.”
Whomever you celebrate today a famous saint, a family member, or a friend know they are watching over you.
We give you thanks, O God, for all the saints who ever worshiped you
Whether in brush arbors or cathedrals,
Weathered wooden churches or crumbling cement meeting houses
Where your name was lifted and adored.
We give you thanks, O God, for hands lifted in praise:
Manicured hands and hands stained with grease or soil,
Strong hands and those gnarled with age
Holy hands
Used as wave offerings across the land.
We thank you, God, for hardworking saints;
Whether hard-hatted or steel-booted,
Head ragged or aproned,
Blue-collared or three-piece-suited
They left their mark on the earth for you, for us, for our children to come.
Thank you, God, for the tremendous sacrifices made by those who have gone before us.
Bless the memories of your saints, God.
May we learn how to walk wisely from their examples of faith, dedication, worship, and love.
Coffee & Writing 
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