All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day: What's the Difference?

Every year at the start of November, the Church keeps two days side by side that are easy to confuse. One is a feast of joy. The other is a day of mourning and prayer. Together they say something central about how Catholics understand death, heaven and the bonds between the living and the dead.

This post explains what each day is, why they fall together, what the Church teaches behind them, and a few simple ways to keep them well.

What is the difference between All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day?

All Saints' Day, on November 1, honours everyone who has reached heaven, including the countless saints no one has ever canonised. All Souls' Day, on November 2, is a day of prayer for the faithful departed who died in God's friendship but are still being purified before entering heaven.

Put simply, on the first day the Church celebrates the saints, and on the second she prays for the souls. The first looks at the finish line; the second helps those still on the way. One is a solemnity, among the highest-ranking celebrations of the year. The other is a commemoration, marked by the colour of mourning and by Masses offered for the dead.

The two days also involve different obligations. In many countries All Saints' Day is a holy day of obligation, so Catholics are bound to attend Mass as on a Sunday. All Souls' Day is not a day of obligation, though many Catholics attend Mass and visit cemeteries.

What is All Saints' Day?

All Saints' Day is a solemnity honouring all the saints in heaven, both the famous ones with their own feast days and the far larger number whose names are known only to God. It is a celebration of what grace can do in ordinary human lives, and a reminder that holiness is the calling of every Christian.

The first reading at Mass describes the scene: "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues" (Revelation 7:9). The Gospel is the Beatitudes, the portrait of what a saint looks like in practice.

The Catechism explains why the Church keeps such days: in the memorials of the saints she "proclaims the Paschal mystery in those who have suffered and have been glorified with Christ," and "proposes them to the faithful as examples" (CCC 1173). Many of the saints in heaven were never famous. They include grandparents, neighbours and people who quietly kept the faith for decades. This is their feast too.

In 2026, November 1 falls on a Sunday. Because All Saints' Day is a solemnity, its Mass replaces the ordinary Sunday Mass that weekend, so attending Sunday Mass is the celebration of All Saints.

What is All Souls' Day?

All Souls' Day, formally the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, is a day on which the whole Church prays for those who have died. It focuses especially on the souls in purgatory, who are assured of heaven but still being purified, and whom our prayers can help.

The mood is different from the day before. Priests wear violet or black, and in some countries white, and the readings speak of death, judgment and the hope of resurrection. Families visit graves, light candles and have Masses offered for relatives who have died. In many countries the cemetery visit on the first days of November is the most widely kept Catholic custom of the year.

In 2026, All Souls' Day falls on Monday, November 2, the day after the Sunday celebration of All Saints.

How are the two days connected?

They are connected by the communion of saints, the Catholic belief that the Church is one family across death. The saints in heaven, the souls being purified and the faithful on earth are all members of one Body in Christ, and they can help one another through prayer.

The Catechism describes "the three states of the Church": "some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory" (CCC 954). All Saints' Day celebrates the third group. All Souls' Day prays for the second. Those of us still on earth stand between them, asking the saints to pray for us and praying in turn for the dead.

The saints are not only examples but intercessors. "They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us," the Catechism says, and "by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped" (CCC 956). Scripture calls them "so great a cloud of witnesses" surrounding the Church on earth (Hebrews 12:1).

Why do Catholics pray for the dead?

Because the Church teaches that some who die in God's friendship still need purification before they can see him face to face, and that the prayers of the living can help them. This purification is called purgatory. It is a state of mercy, not a second chance or a lesser hell.

The Catechism teaches: "All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven" (CCC 1030). It adds that this purification "is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1031).

The practice is older than the Church itself. The Second Book of Maccabees records Judas Maccabeus offering a sacrifice for fallen soldiers: "he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin" (2 Maccabees 12:46). The Catechism cites this passage and notes that "from the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice" (CCC 1032). It also commends "almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead."

Where do the two days come from?

Christians honoured the martyrs from the earliest centuries. In the eighth century Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St. Peter's to all the saints and fixed the anniversary on November 1, and in the ninth century Pope Gregory IV extended the feast to the whole Church. The feast of All Saints is therefore more than twelve centuries old.

All Souls' Day came later. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Odilo of Cluny, who died in 1048, ordered an annual commemoration of all the faithful departed in the monasteries under his care. From there it spread through the Benedictine and Carthusian houses and then into dioceses, until it became part of the calendar of the whole Latin Church.

The pairing is deliberate. Placing the day for the dead immediately after the feast of the saints expresses one hope: that those we mourn on November 2 will one day be among those we celebrate on November 1. The same encyclopedia's entry on All Saints' Day traces the older feast in detail.

How can you keep All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day?

On All Saints' Day, go to Mass, learn about one saint you did not know, and ask a patron saint to pray for you. On All Souls' Day, pray for your own dead by name, visit a grave if you can, and ask for a Mass to be offered for someone who has died.

A few simple practices make the days concrete:

• Write down the names of relatives and friends who have died and pray for them by name throughout November, which the Church dedicates to the holy souls.
• Visit a cemetery, tidy a family grave and pray there. A short prayer is enough: "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them."
• Ask your parish to offer a Mass for a deceased family member. It is the oldest and greatest prayer the Church offers for the dead.
• Pray the Rosary for the holy souls, one decade for each person you are remembering.
• On November 1, read the life of a saint who shares your name or your work, and ask for their intercession.

Both days are also a natural moment to go to confession and receive Communion. If it has been a while, our guide on how to make an examination of conscience will help you prepare, and what the Eucharist is explains why the Mass stands at the centre of both feasts.

What about Halloween?

Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows' Eve, the evening before All Saints' Day, since "hallow" is an old English word for a saint. Its name is Christian, even if many of its modern customs are not. For Catholics it is simply the vigil of a great feast.

Some families keep the evening by dressing up as saints, praying for the dead or attending the vigil Mass. Whatever you do with October 31, the point of the three days is the same: death is real, prayer for the dead is an act of love, and the saints show that holiness is possible.