The first days of November are a time when many churches remember the dead. All Saints' Day, which is today, is followed by All Souls' Day on Sunday. The first is a time to celebrate all the Christian saints, while the second is a day to remember all of the departed.
All Souls' Day observances are often combined with celebrations of All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows Day, but for some churches the distinctions between the two are important. In many churches, the liturgical color of All Souls' Day is black and services often have a solemn tone.
According to Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary, All Souls' Day commemorations began in the 10th century, much later than celebrations of All Saints' Day, which date to the fourth century. It's believed that St. Odilo, the abbot of Cluny in France, suggested the need for a separate day to honor the dead, especially those believed to be in purgatory. This remains true for Catholics; however, for Protestants who observe the day, it's simply a time to remember all those who have died.
The Rev. Erik Pohlmeier, priest at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church in Little Rock, said that Catholics believe that every person in heaven is a saint and so All Saints' Day is a time to celebrate them. All Souls' Day is a time to pray for those who have died "with the hope they will number among the saints at some point," he said.
"Catholics, of course, have a belief in the doctrine of purgatory. We believe in an immediate judgment when we die," Pohlmeier said, adding that purgatory offers time for cleansing the soul before entering heaven.
"Because we don't know when or how that happens we continue our prayers," he said.
All Souls' Day at the parish can be somber at times, he said, but it's more of a celebration.
"It comes down to believing in God's mercy. To believe the soul is in purgatory means to believe they have been judged to be with God in heaven," Pohlmeier said. "So it's a celebration of God's mercy."
The parish will celebrate an All Souls' Day Mass at 4 p.m. today and the names of all those in the parish who have died in the past year will be read with a bell rung for each name. The weekend is celebrated as an extended feast day because the name of the parish focuses on souls. Pohlmeier said the name -- Our Lady of the Holy Souls -- refers to Mary.
"She has lots of different titles but this one is unique and not as well known," he said.
Many of Mary's roles are identified by a specific image, such as the Virgin Mary, but there is no standard image for her as Our Lady of the Holy Souls. While planning to construct a shrine in Mary's honor within the church, the parish worked with a local artist to come up with an image of Mary embracing souls and leading them to God.
"We came up with a statue of generic figures connected to Mary -- an older man, and a young woman and a baby -- to represent souls in general," Pohlmeier said.
The statue is included in the shrine that features niches suspended from the ceiling with space to hold photographs of those who have died, as well as prayer cards. A digital frame will also be used to keep a permanent display of photographs available. As loved ones of parishioners die and new photos are added to the shrine, the older photos will be moved to the digital display.
All Souls' Day is an important one for the parish because parishioners want to honor their deceased loved ones, Pohlmeier said. The shrine will be a permanent way to do so.
"For the Catholic Church All Souls' Day is Nov. 2 but the whole month has traditionally been one of praying for deceased loved ones, and we ask for photos from parishioners to place around the altar for November. We wanted this to be a more permanent tribute with the same idea," he said.
The shrine will be dedicated after the 4 p.m. Mass today in conjunction with a presentation of "Lux Aeterna" featuring the parish choir and a 17-piece orchestra.
All Souls' Day -- and All Saints' Day -- will also be observed at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Little Rock.
"There's an innate desire in people to pray for those who have gone before and to remember them," said the Rev. Danny Schieffler, pastor of the church. As such, the All Souls' commemoration on Sunday evening will be a time to pray for the departed and remember them.
The All Saints' Day service on Sunday morning, however, is more of a celebration of the saints. In between the two morning services, parishioners will gather in the outside columbarium garden to offer prayers for those buried there and to read aloud the names of all those interred in the garden.
At 5 p.m., for the first time in many years, the parish will observe All Souls' Day with a Eucharist for the departed, or what's known as a Requiem Mass. The service will include the Holy Eucharist (communion), but will also feature music from Faure's Requiem.
"It will have a more solemn tone," Schieffler said, noting that the prayers for the service will come from a burial rite dating to 1549. "We'll be taking the traditional burial office and changing it and adding Faure's music."
The parish choir, led by Tim Allen, will sing along with soprano Christine Westhoff and baritone Rob Griffin and members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.
Allen said the movements of the Requiem will be moved around to fit the liturgy.
"It's intimate music," he said. "I think Faure is an intimate composer and it's very different from Verdi's Requiem."
Allen said he finds the "Agnus Dei" particularly moving but the final movement, "In Paradisum" is his favorite.
"The final movement is just glorious," he said. "It's the point at which there's a degree of peace in the music. There's quite a lot of tension in the music before when you consider the souls may be in torment or we are praying they are not in torment, and when 'In Paradisum' is played all that tension evaporates and you send the souls off to paradise."
Schieffler said regardless of what one believes about purgatory or what happens when someone dies, the act of praying for the dead is important.
"God edifies and inspires and comforts our souls when we remember those who have gone before," he said. "It's humbling and deepens our own spirituality to remember that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before. We are only stewards of this earth for a little while ... and there will come a time when we will join the church triumphant."
Religion on 11/01/2014