Sunday, October 31, 2010

Commemoration of All Hallows Eve


Today used to be the Vigil of All Saints (aka Halloween), a night when traditionally the veil between Earth and purgatory thinned, the dead could come back to request prayers, and devils could appear to remind us of the reality of hell.  These days we are all a bit too PC for that!

And liturgically this year, All Saints doesn't even get a First Vespers, displaced by the Feast of Christ the King.  

It is however commemorated at Vespers of Sunday, so I thought a reminder on how to do that might be in order.

So after you have said the collect for the feast in the concluding prayers of Vespers, say the Magnificat antiphon, versicle and collect that would otherwise have been said at I Vespers of All Saints, that is:
  • Angeli, archangeli/O ye angels...from MD [330];
  • Laetamini in Domino/Be glad in the Lord... MD [330]; and
  • Omnipotens sempiterne Deus/Almighty.....MD [331]

1 comment:

titus said...

Thanks for these notes on how to do the commemoration and your other comments, Terra.

I remember as a young child in the late 50's early 60's (pre VII) the prevailing sense of the importance, holiness and solemnity of the feasts of All Saints and All Souls.

We also regularly were reminded of the souls in Purgatory and the need to pray for them diligently.

Our school also always had an All Saints party, where we all dressed up as saints. It really made an impression on me as a child that the saints were *real* and could be imitated and called upon.

We are impoverished in these days for the lack of emphasis on these teachings , and it is rightly said that without a vision, the people perish.