Happy Feast of All Saints Day

The Church pays, day by day, a special veneration to some one of the holy men and women who have helped to establish it by their blood, develop it by their labors, or edify it by their virtues.

        But, in addition to those whom the Church honors by special designation, or has inscribed in her calendar, how many martyrs are there whose names are not recorded!

        How many humble virgins and holy penitents! How many just and holy anchorites or young children snatched away in their innocence!      

        How many Christians who have died in grace, whose merits are known only to God, and who are themselves known only in heaven!

        Now should we forget those who remember us in their intercessions? Besides, are they not our brethren, our ancestors, friends, and fellow-Christians, with whom we have lived in daily companionship-in other words, our own family? Yea, it is one family; and our place is marked out in this home of eternal light and eternal love. 

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

Octave of All Souls and Toties Quoties Indulgence

From noon All Saints Day until midnight at the end of All Souls Day the Catholic faithful, as often as they visit a Church or Chapel, where the Blessed Sacrament is truly present, to pray for the dead, reciting six times during each visit the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for the intentions of Holy Mother Church, may gain a plenary indulgence applicable only to the souls in Purgatory, under the usual conditions of making a good Confession within a week before or after, worthily receiving Holy Communion within the week and having the right intention of heart. This is called the Toties Quoties Indulgence.  As many times as you recite these prayers, exit the Chapel, re-enter it, and recite the prayers again, another soul is delivered to Heaven from Purgatory, so spend some time!

The faithful who during the period of eight days from the Commemoration of All Souls inclusive (November 2nd), visit a cemetery in a spirit of piety and devotion, and pray, even mentally, for the dead, may gain a plenary indulgence on the usual conditions, on each day of the Octave, applicable to the souls in Purgatory. 

Eternal Rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let Perpetual Light shine upon them, may they rest in Peace.