​Q: What is the difference between All Saints Day and All Souls Day?

A: All Saints Day is on Sunday, November 1st, All Souls Day is Monday, November 2nd.  Both of these days honor those who have passed away. The difference between the days is whether the person being honored is in heaven or purgatory. Both of these days were started by Pope Boniface IV around 609 AD.
All Saints Day (All Hallows or Hallowmas) commemorates all departed souls who are in heaven whether they were canonized or not. Because we do not really know who is in heaven other than the saints declared as canonized by the Church, it is tradition to mainly honor canonized saints. It is a Holy Day of Obligation, but in 2026 it falls on a Sunday when we already are obligated to attend mass. The first Sunday of November is also when we set our clocks ahead in the USA...so on All-Saints Day this year, remember to change your clocks too!  On this day we can offer prayers of thanksgiving to all the saints in our own personal lives or canonized saints who have helped us in some way by their example and witness to holiness and faith. Maybe read something your patron saint has written, practice a virtue they strongly displayed, or pray a prayer for someone they have left for us. It is tradition in many Catholic families to celebrate Halloween, a secular event a day before All Saints Day, in commemoration of canonized saints by dressing up like them. Traditionally the song, “For All the Saints” is played at mass. Let these saints give you encouragement to live holy lives and give better witness and glory to God.
All Souls Day commemorates the departed faithful souls in purgatory. All Souls Day is not a holy day of obligation. On this day yearly, November 2nd, it is Catholic tradition to:

• go to the cemetery or light a candle and offer prayers for them,
• do some sacrifice like a work of mercy in their honor, or
• pay to have a mass said for them some time in the next year.

Souls in purgatory cannot pray for themselves nor do any works of mercy to complete their purification, that must be done by the communion of saints, either in heaven (the Church Triumphant) or the Church on earth (the Church militant). When Catholics say, “pray for the repose of the souls in purgatory”, the term “repose” means to attain everlasting peace in heaven. These prayers from the Church militant for the souls in purgatory also include asking the Church triumphant to pray for them as well. Since purification of sin is not a once and done thing at Baptism, but a process throughout our whole life including after we die (if not fully purified of attachments to sin even if forgiven) then the souls in purgatory need our prayers. Biblical evidence of prayers for the dead can be found in 2 Timothy 1:16-18. Paul prayed for Onesiphorus after Onesiphorus had died. If Onesiphorus was in hell or heaven there would be no point in praying for him. Some Lutheran and Anglican churches also celebrate All Souls Day, but it is rooted in the Catholic faith. In Mexico they combine pre-Columbian tradition with All Souls Day, call it the Day of the Dead, have parades, decorate skeletons, and decorate gravesites of their deceased loved ones. 

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