Nearly everyone knows about All Hallows’ Eve. Every child in America looks forward to Halloween, the last day in October when they get to bundle up under costumes of their favorite characters and flit all over town in search of tasty treats to eat. However, far fewer people are familiar with the Catholic feast which always comes the day after Halloween. All Saints’ Day is a Catholic holy day of obligation meaning that attendance at church is required. 

Catholics flock to church on this particular solemnity to celebrate all the saints, both known and unknown. Even non-believers are familiar with some of the greats; Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Joseph to name a few. These are big ‘S’ Saints. Their sainthood has been formally declared by the Holy Father, the Pope, after careful examination of a series of miracles attributed to each of these people. However, one hardly has to be famous in order to become a saint in the eyes of God. There are hundreds of Saints officially acknowledged and celebrated by the Catholic Church and there are countless more that remain unknown but by those who knew them in life. All those who reside with God in heaven have achieved sainthood through virtuous lives or purification of purgatory, regardless of their renown here on earth. 

We tend to confuse our terminology by saying we pray to Saint Anthony for our lost keys or to Saint Mary Magdalene for continued conversion. In truth, we Catholics only ever pray to God as we worship the one true God, fully present in the holy trinity. No saint, famous or otherwise, can answer our prayers. We believe that all of these holy people are now in heaven and therefore closest to God. By this proximity, they have God’s ear in a sense and are capable of interceding for us. When we invoke specific saints in our lives we ask for their intercessions only, that they might implore God to help us in our need. Today, we honor all of them for this assistance.