The Saint Paul globe., 1897-11-01
THIS DAY is C0NSECRATED.
OF THE CHURCH YEAR To-
DAY.
TOMORROW IS ALL SOULS DAY,
Which Is Especially Devoted to the
Memory of Those Who Have
Gone Before.


feast of All Saints, the following cele
bration is the feast of All Souls.
Every Catholic church in the world
holds special services of devotion on
the first two days of November, and in
countries where the state is governed
by Catholic sovereigns the feast of All
Saints is regarded as Sunday is re-
garded-a holiday as we'll as a holy
day. The feast of All Souls is a sec
ondary festival, but has it's particular
observances in memory of the dead.
The festival of All Saints is one of
the chief anniversaries of devotion in
the ritual of the Catholic church.
Every day in the year is particularly
reserved for the honor of a particular
saint, but the list of canonized saints
far exceeds the number of days in the
calendar. Sometimes a single date is
specially dedicated to the veneration of
several saints, but even then the
lengthening roll call OF sanctity is
much in excess of the days of the
year. 1t was the desire of the Cath
olic church to offer homage to the
least as well as to the greatest mem
Der of its triumphant body, and the
feast of All Saints was instituted and
was proclaimed one of the six great
religious festivals of the year, the 9TH
ers being Christmas, New Years's, AS
cension, Assumption and Dec. 8, the
Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
The origin of the feast of All Saints
developed out of the rededicatiOn of
famous church of old-time Rome, and
its history is curiously linked with the
history of paganism. When the Pan
theon, or Rotunda, was built in Rome
by Marcus Agrippa, the favOrite ad-
wiser of the Emperor Augustus, it was
dedicated to Jupiter the Revenger as
graceful compliment to Augustus in
memory of his celebrated victory at
Actium over Antony and Cleopatra. 1t
was christened the Pantheon, either be-
cause of the statues of Mars and other
deities erected within it's boundaries or
for the reason that it's semi-circular
form typified the heavens The heav-
ems, to the pagan intelligence, repre-
sented the abiding place of all the
gods, hence the Greek name of Pan
theOn. The Pantheon was built in the
shape of a semi-globe and was beauti-
fully proportioned, it's width almost
equaling its height. The diameter was
1853 feet. 1t was erected without either
pillars or windows, a large circular
opening in the. center of the roof al
lowing light and air to penetrate it's in
terror. Beneath the aperture a brass
sink received the rain that fell through
the unprotected opening
When Rome finally turned from pa
ganism to Christianity many of her
ancient temples were abolished, Theo-
dosius the Younger ascended the throne
in 40S, and Immediately ordered the
destruction of all the edifices devoted
in the East to the worship of idols. In
the West his uncle, Honorius, was more
tolerant. He caused the magnificent
structures to be closed and the cere-
monies discontinued, but allowed the
buildings to remain as striking monu-
ments of the ancient glOries of the
proud Roman capital. When idolatry
was finally extinct the pagan temples
were reopened and services were again
conducted within the silent halls. but
the services were offered to the honor
of the Christian divinity instead of the
god who reigned on Olympus.
When BOniface ". occupied the pom
tihcal chair of st. Peter at Rome he
turned his attention to the neglected
and unused Pantheon. He had the an
cient temple put in order and purified.
and in GOT 1t was reOpened as a Chris
tian church and dedicated to the honor
of the mother of God and all the mar
tyrS, so many of whom had shed their
life's blood in Rome Over 100 years
later chapel in the great basilica of
st. Peter at Rome was cOnsecrated to
the honor of all the saints by Pope
Gregory Ill, and from the day of that
dor fiNTN hn
in the Christian chapel, and later in the
countries and churches Offering their
spiritual allegiance to Rome. In the
reign of Louis the Debonair the festival
of All Saints was prOpagated through
out France, spreading from French soil
into the other countries of Europe.
Even the Greeks observe the feast of
universal sanctity. The holiday of their
ritual is celebrated on the Sunday after
Whitsunday.
The month of November is especially dedi-
Gated to the memory of the dead in the prac-
tice OF the atholic faith. er spiritual hier-
archy is composed of three divisions-the
church triumphant in heaven, the church mill
liant on earth, the church suffering in pur-
gatory. The custom of aiding the dead by
prayer dates back to the early years of the
Jewish nationality. In the second book of the
Maccabees it is related that Judas the Mac
cabee sent 1900 drachms of silver to the
temple to be offered in sacrifice for the dead
thinking we'll and religiously concerning the
resurrection. 1t is. therefore, a holy and
wholesome thought to pray for the dead that
they may be loosed from their sins" Every
sect of Oriental Christians includes in It's lit
urgy prayerful remembrance of the dead
although many have been separated from the
body of Christianity since the fifth and sixth
centuries st. Athanasius comforted the EN-
peror Constantine by telling him of his
prayers for his deceased brother. Constantine
the Great was entombed in the porch of the
Church of the Apostles that he might en-
Joy the communication of the holy prayers
the mystical sacrifice and the divine cere-
MONIES" and the historian relates that after
his death 'numberless multitudes poured
forth prayers to God with sighs and tears
for the soul of the emperor, repaying a most
grateful office to their pious prince"
The feast of All Souls was instituted by the
Abbot of Cluni, in $685. st. Odilo was the
superior of the order, and the new feast, de-
voted to the memory of the dead, was OBJ
served in all the monasteries of the congrega-
tion. 1t was quickly adopted by the entire
Western world. The council of Oxford in
1922, proclaimed the feast a holy day of the
second class, which certain necessary
kinds of labor were allowable. The Greeks
observe the festival of All Souls before the
date of their holy day of All Saints. The
latter is celebrated the Sunday after Whit
fore, although in the Greek ritual the mass
of every Saturday is dedicated to the service
of the suffering souls in purgatory
The feast of All Souls will be observed with
special services in all the Catholic churches
here and the festival of All Saints will be
celebrated in the solemn manner of the Sun
day observance. Appropriate sermons will
be preached at the late masses of both days.
PASTOR LORDS FAREWELL.