Catholic Fire

Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven Blessed Fra Angelico 1428-30 Tempera on wood, 32 x 63,5 cm National Gallery, London Solemnity of All Saints What does it mean to be a Saint? Ten Steps to Follow Today's Mass Readings On This Day in Catholic History: 700 - The Celts of Ireland, Great Britain and northern France celebrated Oct. 31 as their New Years' Eve from around 1000-500BC. The pagan harvest event incorporated masks to ward off evil ones, as dead relatives were believed to visit families on this night. The Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day, set for Nov. 1, was instituted around 700 CE to supplant this All Hallows' Eve. Halloween was transplanted to the US in the 1840's. 834 - This day was declared to be All Saints’ Day by the Catholic Church. 835 - After the spread of Christianity through the west, the Roman Catholic Church in 835 A.D. made November 1 a church holiday to honor all the saints. This celebration was called All Saint's Day or All Hallows ...

Today's feast honors all the saints of the Church, known and unknown, whose virtues and efforts in this life are considered to have earned them an eternal reward with God. On this day, Catholics are asked to reflect on holiness and sainthood and to celebrate the holiness of men and women who gave their lives in faithfulness and service to God, and whose witness continues to inspire us today. Today is a holy day of obligation. According to tradition, Catholics did honor Christian marytrs on May 13. Pope Boniface IV created Feast of All Martyrs in 615. Pope Gregory IV changed the date to November 1 to put in the place of pagan festivities in 844. He also moved it on the practical grounds that Rome in summer could not accomodate the great number of pilgrims who flocked to it. In 741, the feast was used to celebrate everyone in Heaven. The name of the day changed to Feasts of All Saints in 840. Then in 1484, Pope Sixtus IV called November 1 a Holy Day of Obligation and gave it both a ...

By Jean M. Heimann What do the saints have in common? 1. They are realists – They recognize themselves to be imperfect human beings with a sinful nature and they know that they cannot be holy without the grace of God. They understand that the past is behind them and they must now live in the present and not worry about the future. When they are hurting the most and feel nothing but emptiness in their hearts, they realize that God has not abandoned them, but is closest to them. 2. They hear God’s voice and are obedient to it. They take the time to enter into the silence and to converse with God there. They know that there are many times they will not hear His voice clearly, but they will continue to come to seek Him with all their hearts, to fight the annoying external and internal distractions which attempt to block out the communication between them. When they hear His call, they follow after Him. Though there are many obstacles on the path, they accept and embrace their cross, unit...