All Saints and All Souls Day: How Lutherans Keep These Three Days

Today is All Souls Day. Do you know what that is? It is the last of three days in a row, from October 31 to November 2, that the church has long set aside to remember the dead. Lutherans keep two of them, but not the third, and the reason goes back to the Reformation.

Three Days, One Season

These three days are sometimes called Allhallowtide.

• October 31, All Hallows’ Eve. “Hallow” is an old word for a saint, and Halloween is simply the evening before All Saints Day. For Lutherans, October 31 is also Reformation Day.
• November 1, All Saints Day. The church gives thanks for all the faithful who have died in Christ, “so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1).
• November 2, All Souls Day. In the Roman Catholic tradition, this is a day to pray for the souls of the departed who are believed to be in purgatory, being purified before entering heaven.

Why Lutherans Don’t Keep All Souls Day

It was no accident that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on October 31, 1517, the eve of All Saints. Crowds were about to come to Wittenberg, where indulgences were offered to shorten time in purgatory for oneself or a loved one. Luther’s theses challenged that practice.

The Reformers came to teach that Scripture gives no basis for purgatory. We are saved by grace alone, Sola gratia, through faith in Christ, not by our works or by prayers and payments made on our behalf. Those who die in Christ are already safe in God’s hands. As Jesus told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

So Lutherans, including the ELCA, don’t keep All Souls Day as a separate observance. Instead, we fold that remembrance into All Saints, often celebrated on the first Sunday in November. In many Lutheran congregations, the names of members who died during the past year are read aloud and a candle or bell marks each one. We don’t pray them out of purgatory. We give thanks that they rest in Christ, and we look forward to the resurrection.

Cindy Manning’s Reformation Sunday sermon, Free by Grace, explores that same gift of grace.

A Personal Note

October 31 means a little more to me. I was confirmed on Sunday, October 31, 1976, when I was 14 years old. On Reformation Day I affirmed the promises made at my baptism, and I have been grateful ever since for the grace that Luther rediscovered in Scripture.

Remembering the Saints at Triumphant Cross

We observed All Saints Sunday on November 1. Members wrote the names of the saints from our church and our families on paper hearts and hung them on a banner in the sanctuary. Candles were lit in their memory in front of the lectern.

Every Christian who has gone before us, from the apostles to the grandmother who taught us to pray, belongs to the communion of saints. This week, take a moment to give thanks for the saints in your own life. We’d love for you to join us for worship at Triumphant Cross Lutheran Church in Dothan, where all God’s children are welcome.