The Octave of All Souls 2017

On Sunday, we prayed for the holy souls in Purgatory at a local cemetery, as we've organized for a number of years now. We were able to get a priest to give a catechism lesson and then lead us in our prayers, which makes the event that much more wonderful and edifying. Afterward, we enjoyed coffee, cocoa, sweet treats, and socializing . . . which, when you're an adult, looks like calm conversation, but, when you're a bunch of children, looks like running up and sliding down a hill of red clay in the woods while wearing your Mass clothes.

Feast of All Souls 2016

My big kids were asleep last night in Atlanta apparently "at 11:30," my 7-year-old proudly tells me, and back awake at 7:00 to get on the road, racing back to Charlotte for their noon piano lessons. They have been on the go-go-go for days!

We were about to walk out the door for those piano lessons when I heard the piercing shrieks from outdoors, and I wondered even before I knew the cause of the sound if it meant we wouldn't make it to the annual trip to the cemetery I'd organized for homeschoolers to pray for the poor holy souls in Purgatory.

Joseph (3) has become so brave gliding on his Strider two-wheeler that he did a face plant on the driveway. After 15 minutes of screaming, cold wash cloth, ice, and Advil, finally he let me peek in his mouth where I saw that three teeth had cut into his upper lip . . . but not all the way through the lip! According to what I read, that meant I likely wouldn't have to take him in for stitches!

Poor, dear Josey was subdued for hours, and his lip swelled up even bigger than in the picture below, the inside is all bruised, and it's hard to understand his words right now. But, mouths heal fast, and he should be fine . . . and we were able to make it to our afternoon event of prayers and "soul cakes" (doughnuts)!

After we completed our prayers, the children ran around playing football in the adjacent fields and walking along the edges of the woods. Thomas ran wildly amongst the gravestones, wind in his fine, baby hair.

We got back just in time for Chris and the two oldest kids to load back in the car yet again to attend the Requiem Missa Cantata at 6:00 p.m. What a long few days it has been!

The Octave of All Souls' Day

Our rescheduled visit to the cemetery within the octave of All Souls Day was a success, even if half the families couldn't make it on the new day. Imagine how many kids there would have been present!

The weather was drizzly, but we still lasted an hour out in the elements before retreating to our vehicles. Upon arrival, we taught the children briefly about the Feast of All Souls as well as purgatory and the needs of the souls there. We prayed the Apostles' Creed, an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be, followed by the Eternal Rest prayer, St. Gertrude's prayer, and the Litany of the Dead.

Leading prayers

Leading prayers with mischievous toddlers in the background

Precious toddlers,
even while escaping our grasp and playing in the cemetery

Thomas wearing his first cozy cap

Then the children ate their well-earned "soul cakes" (doughnuts!) before running about in free play in the adjacent meadow and woods. We gave them instructions on cemetery etiquette and had to interrupt them several times for corrections, but fun was had by all.

Proof that these sisters love each other!

Really and truly, they love each other!

All Souls' Day 2015

About 24 hours' worth of rain caused me to cancel the field trip I'd organized to pray for the holy souls at a local Catholic cemetery. We hope Wednesday provides us better weather for another attempt.

Instead we did a regular school day, baked pumpkin scones for morning reading time, and Daddy took the two oldest children to the solemn high Mass tonight.

All Souls' Day 2014

On Sunday morning, I thought to put a dash of cinnamon in my coffee (which always has cream and sugar). How did I not think of this before? And why did no one tell me of this? I have a new way of drinking coffee now (and less motivation ever to quit drinking coffee).

Margaret (3-1/2) asked to write a Mass intention for the first time: her big sister

After Mass, we drove to Belmont Abbey's cemetery where our pastor led prayers for the faithful departed. Even though the old calendar observes All Souls' Day on Monday, the indulgence for praying for the dead extends always from November 1-8.

Between Noon of November 1 and Midnight tonight, a person who has been to confession and Communion can gain a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, for the poor souls each time he visits a church or public oratory and recites the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory be to the Father six times. This is a special exception to the ordinary law of the Church according to which a plenary indulgence for the same work can be gained only once a day. Because of this, some of the customs described below may be begun on All Saints Day.

Also, the faithful who, during the period of eight days from All Saints Day, visit a cemetery and pray for the dead may gain a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions, on each day of the Octave, applicable only to the dead. Here is a simple invocation for the dead, called the "Eternal Rest" prayer:

Eternal rest grant unto him/her (them), O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon him/her (them). May he/she (they) rest in peace. Amen.

Latin version:
Réquiem ætérnam dona ei (eis) Dómine; et lux perpétua lúceat ei (eis). Requiéscat (Requiéscant) in pace. Amen.

Catholics also pray this prayer for the dead anytime throughout the year, and whenever they pass a cemetery. Many families pray a Rosary nightly for the dead throughout the Octave of All Saints, replacing the Fatima prayer with the Eternal Rest prayer. (Source)

We think perhaps nearly 100 people showed up today.

Families brought hot coffee, doughnuts (modern "soul cakes"), and treats for us to enjoy after praying at the cemetery.

The weather made the event more penitential, the temperature having dropped to 29 degrees overnight and warmed only to about 50 accompanied by a stiff wind. In the morning, the Weather Channel website greeted me with the warning, "Sunday likely to bring record cold."

Life amidst death in the shadow of the cross

Walking toward the cross

All Souls' Day commemorates the faithful departed--those who die with God's grace and friendship.

Not everyone who dies in God's grace is immediately ready for the goodness of God and heaven, so we must be purified of the temporal effects of sin. The Church calls this purification of the elect "purgatory." Church teaching on Purgatory essentially requires belief in two realities: there will be a purification of believers prior to entering heaven, and the prayers and Masses of the faithful in some way benefit those in the state of purification.

As to the duration, place and exact nature of this purification, the Church has no official dogma, although St. Augustine and others used fire as a way to explain the nature of the purification.

While in the current liturgical calendar All Souls' Day is commemorated on a Sunday, in the old calendar (1962 Missal) it is considered a requiem Mass and transferred to Monday, Nov. 3. [emphasis mine]

Source: Catholic News Herald, October 24, 2014

We joined another family for dinner at a pizzeria and these two chatted it up the whole time.

On Monday, All Souls' Day observed, we will be attending a Latin Mass graciously offered by our priest. The normally very busy three days of All Saints' and All Souls' activities will be four days this year!

All Saints' Day & All Souls' Day 2013

All Saints' Day

After our late night before All Saints' Day, one would hope tiny children would sleep in, but one would be wrong! Our two older ones slept in, but the baby and toddler have such strong internal clocks, they woke up bright and early anyway, which means so did I!

We took the day off of school because All Saints' Day is a holy day of obligation. We enjoyed a relaxing, lay-about day, caught up on a few house chores, ate too much candy, and the children got to attend art and chess class in the afternoon. Then we attended the Latin Mass before going to dinner at a restaurant with parishioner friends.

All Souls' Day

We woke up to a foggy morning, which is an unusual sight here, unlike where I grew up in a California valley known for fabulously dense fog. Daddy took the children for a "fog walk," as he dubbed it, while I stayed home to rest with the baby.

Walking in the fog

We arranged a simple altar in honor of our family's deceased. It pales in comparison to a Mexican ofrenda, but it will be a peaceful place we can remember to pray for our loved ones who have passed away.

Our family altar for the dead

Our parish held a very special solemn requiem Mass with a catafalque and the new (antique) vestments of black velvet and silver embroidery. Unfortunately for me, I didn't plan the morning well enough in terms of little tummies: I served waffles which, with syrup, just burn through a little kid. No protein at all! Then I forgot to feed snacks. And the Mass was at noon. You Mamas can see it coming . . . my two-year-old had a nuclear meltdown in the cry room, so I actually took her out to the van and let her happily sit in the driver's seat eating a bag of mixed nuts. I have almost never done that--just given her a free pass at Mass--but I realized I'd totally set her up for failure today.

Anyway, I hear the Mass was exquisite!

The catafalque

The first week of November is perhaps the richest week of plenary indulgences available from the Church. One can gain one indulgence per day for the poor holy souls in purgatory!

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For the faithful departed 

§ 1. A plenary indulgence, applied exclusively to the souls in Purgatory, is granted to the Christian faithful who:

1° on each single day, from the first to the eighth day in November, devoutly visit a cemetery and, even if only mentally, pray for the faithful departed; [Note: one plenary indulgence for each day, if the usual conditions are met]

2° on the day of Commemoration of All Faithful Departed [November 2] (or, according to the Ordinary, on the preceding or subsequent Sunday, or on the day of the solemnity of All Saints) piously visit a church or oratory and there recite the Pater and the Credo. 

(Reference: Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th edition, al. concessiones.)

Therefore, after Mass five families headed over to Belmont Abbey to pray at the cemetery.

Afterward, we served the children doughnuts: the modern-day version of soul cakes! They ran about in an adjacent meadow while the adults chatted, Abbot Placid Solari showed up and visited with our group, and a lovely time was had by all.

All Souls Day 2012

I try to serve dessert on high feast days, so when a recipe for Soul Cakes came into my email in box on All Saints Day, I thought that was worth trying. They taste old-fashioned (not as sweet and rich as our adulterated modern tongues are accustomed to), so we added frosting to some instead of just powdered sugar.

In the afternoon, we joined a field trip to St. Joseph's Catholic Church and Cemetery (see here and here). It is a delightful little parish--now closed with historic status--founded by the original Irish settlers to this area. It opens twice per year for a special Mass and when a group wants a tour.

The parish is home to a delightful old cemetery, which made me think fondly of gravestone-tracing trips with my genealogist father. We were told that there are many unmarked graves here because they were marked with now lost wooden plaques, the marble headstones costing about three years' average salary back when. Also we were told one harrowing tale: There were four Irish families in the area who wished to return home to Ireland for a visit, but they couldn't possibly afford to take everyone. So the four brothers sailed home to Ireland, leaving their wives and many children behind. The ship sank, all the brothers perished at sea, and a joint memorial headstone marks their loss in this graveyard.

The Catholic Church sets aside the entire month of November to remind us to pray for the poor souls in purgatory. Within the All Souls' octave, one can receive a plenary indulgence, under the usual conditions and applied to the deceased, every day for eight days. As a group, we prayed the Litany for the Dead, and prayed an Our Father and Hail Mary for the intentions of the pope, and sang a beautiful hymn whose name I forget.

At home we did the same tradition that I think we developed last year: we covered our family altar in candles for the holiness effect so appealing to children (and adults!) and prayed our family rosary in dim lighting. We prayed various prayers for the deceased and read the list of deceased and loved ones attached to our family, about thirty names we have listed. This is a tradition I see as very appealing to little children and one that would be lovely to do throughout November. Bonus points because the kids are on best behavior to be allowed the privilege of snuffing out so many candles after the prayers are done!