November 1 · Catholic · traditional calendar

All Saints' Day 2026 (November 1): meaning, readings and All Souls

All Saints' Day, November 1, honours all the saints, known and unknown. In 2026 it falls on a Sunday. Here are its readings, its history from the Pantheon to November 1, how churches keep it, and how All Souls on November 2 differs.

Era: Church year

What the day celebrates

All Saints' Day gives thanks for everyone who has died in Christ and now lives with God, including the many whose names no calendar records. In the New Testament "saints" is a name for all believers: Paul writes to those in Rome "called to be saints" and to "all the saints" at Philippi (Romans 1:7; Philippians 1:1, Berean Standard Bible). Churches keep the day in different ways. Catholics honour the saints in heaven and ask for their prayers; the historical Baltimore Catechism explains that teaching in lesson 31. Lutheran writers present the day as thanks to God for the lives and deaths of all Christians; the Augsburg Confession (1530, article 21) commends the saints as examples of faith but does not teach calling on them for help, since Christ is the one mediator. In our take, near the end of this page, we argue that every church should keep this day, a Baptist or Pentecostal congregation as much as a Catholic parish.

The readings

Revelation 7 sees "a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue" standing before the throne in white robes (Revelation 7:9, BSB); they have come out of the great tribulation, and God will wipe away every tear (7:14, 17). In Matthew 5:1–12 Jesus teaches the Beatitudes on the mountain, including "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Matthew 5:8, BSB). In 1 John 3:1–3 believers are called children of God who will see Christ as he is. Hebrews 12:1, after the list of faithful men and women in Hebrews 11, speaks of "such a great cloud of witnesses" (BSB) and urges the reader to run the race with endurance. In 2026 the Catholic lectionary for the dioceses of the United States appoints Revelation 7:2–4, 9–14; 1 John 3:1–3; and Matthew 5:1–12a. The Revised Common Lectionary, which many Protestant churches follow, appoints Revelation 7:9–17; Psalm 34:1–10, 22; 1 John 3:1–3; and Matthew 5:1–12 (Year A).

From the Pantheon to November 1

Christians remembered all the martyrs together long before November 1. The 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia finds a common day at Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost, and mentions of it in a sermon of Ephrem the Syrian (died 373) and a homily of John Chrysostom (died 407). In Rome, Pope Boniface IV received the Pantheon, a temple to all the gods, from the Emperor Phocas and dedicated it as a church of Mary and all the martyrs; Bede records the gift and the dedication in his Ecclesiastical History (book 2, chapter 4). The Encyclopedia dates the consecration to May 13, 609 or 610, and says the pope ordered a yearly anniversary. Gregory III (731–741) consecrated a chapel in St Peter's Basilica to all the saints and fixed its anniversary on November 1. Gregory IV (827–844) extended the November 1 feast to the whole Church; the Encyclopedia's article on him says he instructed the Emperor Louis the Pious to proclaim it throughout his empire.

Who keeps it, and when

Catholic: All Saints is a solemnity, and canon 1246 of the Code of Canon Law lists it among the holy days of obligation, which a bishops' conference may suppress or move to a Sunday with the Holy See's approval. In 2026 November 1 is a Sunday, so the ordinary Sunday obligation (canon 1247) applies everywhere that day in any case. Anglican: in the Church of England's Common Worship calendar All Saints' Day is a Principal Feast, kept on November 1 or on the Sunday between October 30 and November 5; in 2026 both fall on November 1. Lutheran: the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod lists November 1 as All Saints' Day among its festivals. Methodist: United Methodist Communications notes that the day is November 1 and that many congregations keep it on the first Sunday in November, which in 2026 is the same day. Orthodox: the Orthodox Church keeps its own All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost; the Orthodox Church in America credits Emperor Leo VI the Wise with dedicating that Sunday to all the saints. In 2026 the Orthodox Sunday of All Saints fell on June 7.

All Souls' Day, November 2

All Souls' Day, officially the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, falls on November 2, a Monday in 2026. All Saints honours those already with God; All Souls is a day of prayer for all who have died. Catholic: the Church prays for the dead who are being purified before they see God, and the Catechism (1032) points to 2 Maccabees, which in the Douay–Rheims Old Testament of 1609–10 reads: "It is therefore a holy, and healthful cogitation to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins" (2 Machabees 12:46). According to the 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia, Odilo of Cluny (died 1048) ordered the yearly commemoration in the monasteries of his congregation, and it spread to other Benedictines and to the Carthusians. Orthodox: there is no November 2 observance; Saturday is the usual day for remembering the dead, with special memorial Saturdays such as the one before Meatfare Sunday. Anglican: the Church of England's calendar includes the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day), though practice varies among Anglicans. Protestant: the Reformed Westminster Confession of Faith (chapter 21) says prayer is to be made for the living, not for the dead.

Our take

This is our own view, not a ruling for any church, and some readers will disagree with it. All Saints is the most underrated feast of the Christian year, and two kinds of Christians get it wrong. The first are Protestant churches that leave it off the calendar. Some do so on principle: the Westminster Directory for Public Worship (1645) holds that no day but the Lord's Day is commanded under the gospel. We think that rule gives away too much: in the New Testament every believer is called a saint (Romans 1:7; Philippians 1:1), so a day for all the saints, known and unknown, belongs to a Baptist or Pentecostal congregation as much as to a Catholic parish or a Lutheran one. Leaving it out hands the season to the costume shops. The second are Christians who spend more energy fighting Halloween than keeping November 1: the night before only makes Christian sense because of the morning after. Our suggestion for any church, whatever its tradition: on November 1, say aloud the names of the members who died in the past year and thank God for each one, because we read the "great cloud of witnesses" of Hebrews 12:1, which follows the faithful of Hebrews 11, as including people your congregation knew. We will not pretend the old disagreement is settled: Catholics ask the saints for their prayers, and Lutherans following the Augsburg Confession do not. But every tradition on this page can give thanks for them, and that is the heart of the day.

Over to you

Whose name will you thank God for on All Saints' Day, and what did their faith look like up close? If your church skips the day, send this page to your pastor and ask why.