Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-26

Souls day, on November ., and was pre-
coded by the evening of October 81 called
All Hallows' eve, or Halloween, when
all the spirits of evil and mischief were
said to be out for holiday. Today the
festival of the saints and souls is largely
forgotten
The festival of All Saints day was in
stituted about 1900 years ago by Pope
Boniface Nv. because the great and In
creasing number of saints recognized by
the church made IL impossible to dedicate
particular days for the individual honor
OF each one.
All Saints day is celebrated as holy
day by the Greek, Romish, Anglican ana
Episcopal churches. According to st
Chrysostom. a festival in honor OF all
the saints was observed on the Sunday
after Whitsuntide as early as the fourth
century by the eastern branch OF the
Catholic Church. This was called All
Saints Sunday. This day was not OBJ
served by the western Cathoiic Church'
however until the beginning of the sew
enth century, or about GOT AID
~
After Pope Boniface Nv obtained pos
session of the Pantheon at Rome, which
had originally been dedicated to all the
gods of the ancient Romans. he decided
to prepare it for Christian worship and
rededicate it to the Virgin and all the
saints of the Christian church in place
of the old gods of pagan Rome. The
Pantheon was therefore dedicated to
them on May l3. and on the anniver-
sary of this day a celebration was an
nually held in honor of all the saints.
The change from this date to that of
November 1 for the festival of all the
saints apparently dates to the time of
Pope Gregory, who two centuries later
dedicated a church in honor of all the
saints November 1 AID. $50. When the
Anglican and Frankish churches were
finally persuaded to adopt the custom of
holding an All Saints festival November
/ was at last generally accepted as the
suitable date for it. Later 1t was popu-
larly called All Hallows' day, or Hal
lowmass, and the evening before it then
became All Hallows eve, or Halloween.
All Souls day, November 2, has been
celebrated by the Christian churches Of
Western Europe ever since the year 99S.
1t was instituted about five years earlier
by Odilon, Bishop of Cluny, as a day
on which masses should be said for the
repose of the souls in purgatory, and
was soon considered so important that
1t was never allowed to be postponed
for any other church festival
X
The two chief characteristics of the
old popular Halloween celebration in
England and the British Isles generally
were the lighting of bonfires and the
practice of certain customs based on
the belief that on this night more than
on any other in the year ghosts and
witches were wont to be wandering
around. Later the spirits of the dead
were supposed to be free from the or
binary restrictions that hamper their
intercourse with mortals, and could
therefore return to help or hinder
those OF earth. Many persons today
take comfort in the thought that on All
Souls day each year their loved and
lost are free to tarry with Them and
devout persons therefore make it
special point to go to church and take
communion in order that they may be
brought into closer fellowship with the
saints and souls of the church trium-
plant who have passed beyond the
veil into the spirits rest, but who on
this day are in special communion with
the living members of the church mill
tant
There is probably physical basis for
this ancient belief that mortals are i'm
some way better able at Halloween to
get into communication with the world
OF spirits. Just as trees shed their
leaves and fruit in the autumn and pre-
pare themselves for different system