<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><base href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/All-Saints-Day"><style id="print"></style><title>All Saints’ Day | Definition, History, & Facts | Britannica</title><div class="original-url"><br><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/All-Saints-Day">https://www.britannica.com/topic/All-Saints-Day</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="-webkit-locale: "en"; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="system exported">
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<div class="page" style="text-align: start; overflow-wrap: break-word; max-width: 100%;"><h1 class="title" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: start; display: block; max-width: 100%;">All Saints’ Day | Definition, History, & Facts</h1><div class="metadata singleline" style="text-align: start; display: block; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.75em; max-width: 100%;"><time datetime="2023-11-02T00:00:00CDT" class="date" style="margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;">Nov 2, 2023</time></div><div class="leading-image" style="max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 1.15em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/34/180534-050-65B9DBD2/candles-cemetery-All-Saints-Day.jpg?w=400&h=300&c=crop" alt="All Saints' Day" class="" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; margin: auto; display: block; clear: both;" data-unique-identifier=""></div><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span>All Saints’ Day</strong>, also called <strong style="max-width: 100%;">All Hallows’ Day, </strong><strong style="max-width: 100%;">Hallowmas, </strong>or <strong style="max-width: 100%;">Feast of All Saints</strong>, in the Christian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/church-architecture" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">church</a>, a day <a data-term="commemorating" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commemorating" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">commemorating</a> all the saints of the church, both known and unknown, who have attained <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/heaven" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">heaven</a>. It is celebrated on November 1 in the Western churches and on the first Sunday after <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pentecost-Christianity" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Pentecost</a> in the Eastern churches. In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Roman Catholicism</a>, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/feast-religion" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">feast</a> is usually a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/holy-days-of-obligation" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">holy day of obligation</a>. It is part of the three-day triduum dedicated to remembering the dead, beginning with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Halloween" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Halloween </a>(October 31) and followed by All Saints’ Day (November 1) and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/All-Souls-Day-Christianity" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">All Souls’ Day</a> (November 2).</p><!--[P1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[MOD1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><figure data-assembly-id="287163" style="max-width: 100%; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); margin: 0px;"><div data-type="video" style="max-width: 100%;"><a data-id="249077" href="/video/249077/origins-of-Halloween-explained" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/77/249077-138-B757C7FD/origins-of-Halloween-explained.jpg?w=800&h=450&c=crop" alt="The thousand-year-old history of Halloween" loading="lazy" class="" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0.5em auto; display: block; height: auto;" data-unique-identifier=""><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;"><em data-icon="play_arrow" style="max-width: 100%;"></em></p></a></div><figcaption style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.8em; width: 100%; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);"><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;">The thousand-year-old history of Halloween</p><a href="/topic/All-Saints-Day/images-videos" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; text-decoration: underline;">See all videos for this article</a></figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="max-width: 100%;">The origin of All Saints’ Day cannot be traced with certainty, and it has been observed on various days in different places. A feast of all <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/martyr#ref4657" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">martyrs</a> was kept on May 13 in the Eastern church according to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Ephraem-Syrus" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Ephraem Syrus</a> (died <em style="max-width: 100%;">c.</em> 373), which may have determined the choice of May 13 by Pope <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Boniface-IV" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Boniface IV</a> when he dedicated the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pantheon-building-Rome-Italy" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Pantheon</a> in Rome as a church in honour of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-mother-of-Jesus" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Blessed Virgin</a> and all <a data-term="martyrs" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/martyrs" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">martyrs</a> in 609. The first evidence for the November 1 date of celebration and of the broadening of the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs occurred during the reign of Pope <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Gregory-III" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Gregory III</a> (731–741), who dedicated a chapel in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Old-Saint-Peters-Basilica" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">St. Peter</a>’s, Rome, on November 1 in honour of all saints. In 800 All Saints’ Day was kept by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alcuin" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Alcuin</a> on November 1, and it also appeared in a 9th-century English <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">calendar</a> on that day. In 837 Pope <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gregory-IV" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Gregory IV</a> ordered its general observance. In <a data-term="medieval" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medieval" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">medieval</a> England the festival was known as All Hallows, and its eve is still known as <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Halloween" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Halloween</a>. The period from October 31 to November 2 (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/All-Souls-Day-Christianity" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">All Souls’ Day</a>) is sometimes known as Allhallowtide.</p><!--[P2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="/quiz/christianity-quiz" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">
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</a><!--[MOD2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span></div></div></div><br><br><div dir="ltr">Reverent Dr. Carolyn Peters, National Federation Of The Blind, Ohio, affiliate, vice president, 937-657-5134,<div>Dr.Carolyn.peters@gmail.com </div><div></div><div></div></div></body></html>