All Saints’ Day, 1 November: Why We Honour the Saints
On 1 November the Church keeps the Solemnity of All Saints, a day to honour every holy man, woman and child who is now with God in heaven. Some of them are household names. Most are known only to God. This year, 1 November falls on a Sunday.
Who are the saints?
A saint is someone who has lived the Christian life with great love and now shares in the life of God. The Church names some saints publicly, in a process called canonisation, so that we have models to follow and friends to pray with. All Saints’ Day goes further and remembers them all, the vast crowd from every nation that no one could count, described in the Book of Revelation.
Why we honour them
Catholics do not worship the saints. We honour them, and we ask for their prayers in the same way we might ask a friend to pray for us. This is what the Creed means by the communion of saints: the whole Church, in heaven and on earth, joined together in prayer.
The saints also show us that holiness is possible in ordinary life. Ireland has Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid and Saint Columba. More recently the Church has given us Saint Carlo Acutis, a teenager who loved computers and football and was canonised in September 2025. You can read more about him in Carlo Acutis: Meet the Church’s First Millennial Saint and Saint Carlo Acutis: Marking His Feast Day on 12 October.
Simple ways to keep the day
- Go to Mass if you can, and listen for the names of the saints in the prayers.
- Choose a saint to get to know this month, perhaps the one you were named after, and read a short life of them.
- Tell a child the story of a saint. Their stories are often better than any film.
- Light a candle at home and say a short prayer asking the saints to pray for you.
All Saints’ Day is followed the next day by All Souls’ Day, when we pray for those who have died. You can read about that in All Souls’ Day: Remembering Those Who Have Died.
A saint in your pocket
A wallet prayer card is a small way to keep a saint close. We have the St. Vincent Pallotti prayer card (€5), the Carlo Acutis official prayer card and bookmark (€0.50) and a mix and match pack of four Carlo Acutis prayer cards (€1).
Marian Holy Art is an Irish Catholic company offering unique religious gifts and devotional items inspired by Lourdes, Knock and the Catholic faith. Our products are available exclusively through Marian Holy Art and are sold at Knock Shrine, Ireland.