Friday is the Feast of All Saints and a Holy Day of Obligation. Remembering saints and martyrs and dedicating a specific day to the each year has been a Christian tradition since the Fourth century, but it was only in 609 A.D. that Pope Boniface IV decided to remember all martyrs. Originally 13th May was the date chosen but in 837 A.D. Pope Gregory IV extended the festival to remember All Saints and changed the date to 1st November.
From the earliest times Christians have prayed for those who have died. When St Monica was dying she told St Augustine not to worry about where she was buried but to remember her at the altar of God. Although our ultimate destiny is decided at the moment of death, the prayers of others can help the process whereby the fire of God’s love purifies us and makes us ready to enter his presence. Friday’s Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed was established by Odilo, the Abbot of Cluny, in 998 A.D. and rapidly spread throughout the Church. It is customary for priests to celebrate three Masses on this day.
This year, because it falls on Saturday the first Mass will be at Coggeshall 9.00 a,m, the second and third at Kelvedon 10.00 a.m. & 12.15 p.m. (Tridentine). You can also gain plenary indulgences for the Holy Souls by various exercises of devotion such as visiting a church or cemetery and praying the Our Father and Creed for the intentions of the Holy Father, or reciting Psalm 129 (‘Out of the depths’), or some other part of the Office for the Dead. As usual you are invited to leave the names of those whom you would like to be prayed for during the month of the Holy Souls in the basket near the altar. If you wish for an individual Mass to be said please use the brown envelopes at the back of the Church for the details and hand them in rather than place them in the basket.
