A feast of the highest rank, celebrated on the first of November,
having a vigil and an octave, and giving place to no other feast. It is
instituted to honour all the saints, known and unknown, and, according
to Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful's celebration of
saints' feasts during the year. In the early days the Christians were
accustomed to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ
at the place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighbouring dioceses
began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to
join in a common feast; as is shown by the invitation of St. Basil of
Caesarea (397) to the bishops of the province of Pontus. Frequently
groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a
joint commemoration. In the persecution of Diocletian the number of
martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to
each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated,
appointed a common day for all. The first trace of this we find in
Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. We also find mention of a common
day in a sermon of St. Ephrem the Syrian (373), and in the 74th homily
of St. John Chrysostom (407). At first only martyrs and St. John the
Baptist were honoured by a special day. Other saints were added
gradually, and increased in number when a regular process of
canonization was established; still, as early as 411 there is in the
Chaldean Calendar a "Commemoratio Confessorum" for the Friday after
Easter. In the West, Boniface IV, 13 May, 609, or 610, consecrated the
Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs, ordering an
anniversary. Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the Basilica
of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for 1 November.
A basilica of the Apostles already existed in Rome, and its dedication
was annually remembered on 1 May. Gregory IV (827-844) extended the
celebration on 1 November to the entire Church. The vigil seems to have
been held as early as the feast itself. The octave was added by Sixtus
IV (1471-84).
BUTLER, Lives of the Saint; LINGARD, The History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church; BARING-GOULD, Lives of the Saints; BINDER, Allgemeine Realencyklopædie; BINTERIM, Denkwürdigkeiten; PROBST in Kirchenlex., KELLNER, Heortology, NILLES, Kalendarium Manuale untriusque Ecclesiæ.
FRANCIS MERSHMAN (Catholic Encyclopedia)
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