It is an ancient tradition of the Catholic Church to pray on 2 November for all the faithful who have died.
Newsroom (03/11/2021 08:30, Gaudium Press) The Church reserves an important place in the Liturgy for all those who have died “in the sign of faith“: there is a remembrance at daily Mass, including the Moment (remembrance) of the dead, and also in the prayers of the Divine Office. On the Day of the Dead the Church authorizes each priest to celebrate three Masses for the souls of the deceased.
The Catholic Church has always prayed for the dead
Since the early centuries the Church has prayed for the dead. In the Bible, in the Second Book of Maccabees, we find this recommendation: “It is a holy and salutary thing to remember to pray for the dead, that they may be delivered from their sins.” (2Mac 12:46)
By remembering the dead, the Church wishes to recall the great truth based on Revelation: that there exists the Church Triumphant in Heaven, the Church Suffering in Purgatory, and the Church Militant on earth. Purgatory is the intermediate but temporary state “where the human spirit is purified and becomes fit for Heaven”.
Prayer for the dead is present in the Catechism and in the Tradition of the Church
Our Catechism explains: “Those who die in the grace and friendship of God, but are not completely purified, although they have their eternal salvation guaranteed, undergo, after their death, a purification in order to obtain the holiness necessary to enter into the joy of Heaven. The Church calls this final purification of the elect Purgatory, which is completely distinct from the punishment of the damned” (n. 1030-1031).
The Tradition of the Church is full of teachings on prayer for the dead. As early as the fourth century, St John Chrysostom (349-407), bishop and Doctor of the Church, recommended praying for the dead: “Let us bring them help and celebrate their memory … Why should we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help the departed and to offer our prayers for them (Hom. 1 Cor. 41,15).
The Apostles instituted prayer for the dead and it is of great and real help to them” (In Philippians III 4, PG 62, 204).
What does it mean to pray for the dead?
Tertullian (†220) – Bishop of Carthage, says: “The wife prays for the soul of her husband and asks for refreshment for him, and that she may be reunited with him again in the resurrection; she offers suffrage every anniversary day of his death” (De monogamia, 10).
Tertullian attests to the use of suffrages in the official liturgy of Carthage, which was one of the main centres of Christianity in the third century: “During the death and burial of a believer, he had benefited by the prayer of the priest of the Church”. (De anima 51; PR, ibidem)
St. Cyprian (†258), Bishop of Carthage, refers to the offering of the Eucharistic Sacrifice in suffrage of the dead as a custom received from the inheritance of his predecessor bishops (cf. epist. 1,2). In his epistles it is common to find the expression: “to offer the Sacrifice for someone or on the occasion of someone’s funeral“. (PR Magazine, 264, 1982, pp. 50 and 51; PR ibidem)
Should we pray for the dead?
St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (†386), said: “Finally, we also pray for the holy priests and bishops and the dead and for all in general who have lived among us; believing that this will be the greatest help for those souls for whom we pray, while the holy and tremendous Victim lies before us” (Catechesis. Mistagogica. 5, 9, 10, Ed. Vozes, 1977, pg. 38).
On the Day of the Dead, we do not celebrate death, but life after death, the resurrection that Christ won for us with His Death and Resurrection. The Catechism of the Church reminds us that: “Fully recognizing this communion of the whole mystical body of Jesus Christ, the earthly Church, from the earliest times of the Christian religion, has venerated with great piety the memory of the dead…”(CCC, § 958)
Something very important to remember is that souls also pray for us. The Catechism states, “Our prayer for them [in Purgatory] can not only help them, but also makes their intercession for us effective.” (n. 958)
Speaking of the deceased, Pope John Paul II once said, “In a mysterious exchange of gifts, they [in Purgatory] intercede for us and we offer for them our prayer of suffrage.” ( L’Osservatore Romano of 08/11/92, p. 11)
“The tradition of the Church has always exhorted us to pray for the dead. The basis of the prayer of suffrage is found in the communion of the Mystical Body… Consequently, it recommends visits to cemeteries and the adornment of graves and suffrages as a testimony of trusting hope, despite the sufferings caused by the separation from loved ones” (LR, n. 45, of 10/11/91).
Pray for the souls in Purgatory
The Church teaches that souls undergoing purification in Purgatory can no longer do anything for themselves, since death puts an end to their time of earning merit before God. Therefore, it is a great work of charity towards souls to offer for their suffrage the Holy Mass, the Rosary, indulgences, prayers, penances, and alms.
Pope Francis has also stressed the importance of remembering the deceased: “The memory of the dead, care for the graves, and suffrages are the witness of a confident hope, rooted in the certainty that death is not the last word on the destiny of the human being, because man is destined to a life without limits, which has its root and its fulfilment in God” (Prayer of the Angelus, 02/11/2014).
By Professor Felipe Aquino, Professor of Church History at the “Instituto de Teologia Bento XVI” of the Diocese of Lorena and Canção Nova. Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
