Sacred Heart Magazine

October 1958

Halloween, the night before the Feast of All Saints, was once celebrated with grand processions in honor of the memory and relics of the saints. How did it become the night of imps, witches and goblins?

The parish hall can become the scene of parties in honor of the joy of the saints.

There was a time when the night before the Feast of All Saints was a time for joyful thanks. Today it is looked on as a time for pranks-many of them not the source of joy; at least for those on whom they are played. Maybe it is time we return the "thanks" to Hallowe' en and tone down the pranks a bit.

There was also a time when the night before the Feast of All Saints was marked by parties. But these parties were family feasts. That is to say, the family of God celebrated the victories of so many of their members whose number, says St John in his great vision of heaven, "no man can number:' Then those parties degenerated. And now there are parties on the Vigil of All Saints. But they are rather senseless things, marked by witches and goblins (which do not exist) and masquerades in which those in whose honor the party is really being held-the saints are not even represented. How did all this ever come about?

The Reformation

Well, it really began on All Hallows' Eve in 1517. One of the shepherds of the Church became a hireling that day. He deserted his flock. Worse than that, he sold his flock and betrayed it when he nailed ninety-five theses to the door of a cathedral in Germany. The "hireling" was Martin Luther. Named for the great bishop who had so well fed his flock with truth, the sainted Martin of Tours, this other Martin chose to defy Peter. And the great Revolt, misnamed the "Reformation" saw its flaming beginning in his act of defiance.

Catholic unity was broken that day. Catholic traditions which helped maintain that unity had to be destroyed, too, if the work of the so-called Reformation was to be forwarded. One of the long-standing, Catholic traditions was that of veneration of the Church's heroes, the saints. And the celebration of All Hallows' Eve was part and parcel of that veneration. So Hallowe'en was transformed from the festival of the saints into the festival of hobgoblins and witches.

In England

England was the scene where most of this mutilation of tradition took place. It had been the custom there for many centuries to begin the Feast of All Saints (for all the Church's greater feasts begin on the evening before the actual day) with great processions. The relics of the saints, their blessed remains and things which had belonged to them or which had played an important part in their lives, were carried in solemn procession through the streets and byways of the cities and towns of England on that night.

People joined in these holy processions, carrying torches and lamps and banners. And the more privileged among them helped in the carrying of the relics. All this was part of the people's expression of gratitude to God for the victory of their fellow-members in Christ who had fulfilled the purpose of their existence in attaining life with and in God in heaven.

Usually the relics were brought in this procession to the chief church in a city or village and there placed on and about the main altar of that church. Prayers were said and hymns were sung and the holy relics were left there amid lights and flowers and incense until the following day when Mass was celebrated.

At an altar at which reposed the remains or part of the holy remains of the heroes of the Faith, the Mystery was celebrated to thank God for the victory of these holy people and to thank them, too, for their interest in the Church Militant. Then, at the end of the day, the relics were returned to their shrines and reliquaries to remain in quiet repose until the next year should bring the solemn celebration of the great feast of All Hallows-All Saints.

In those places where the parishes were not fortunate enough to possess relics of the saints, it was the custom for the people, young and old, to "dress up" in costumes. But not just any kind of costume. If they could not have the relics of the saints to remind them of the oneness in Christ of the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant, then-quite naturally-they resorted to the more graphic device of costume.

People dressed, in the garments of the saints-not the actual clothes which the saint once owned, but in costumes which closely approximated them. Some men wore the vestments of sainted bishops, or of priests and monks. Women and girls dressed like holy nuns whose feasts were being celebrated together with the bishops and priests who had attained sainthood. And there were others who dressed like the martyrs of old, or in the costumes of the time and country in which the various saints had lived.

Out of this custom of impersonation of the saints in the All Hallows' procession came our modem substitute-the masquerade for Hallowe'en. And before there were pumpkin faces and black cats and witches and goblins decorating halls and private homes, there were the holy relics of the saints exposed for the veneration of the Faithful in the church.

The Revolt rejected the place of the saints in Catholic life. So the "Reformers" had to get rid of these pious customs. They got rid of the Feast of All Saints and forbade its celebration. But the procession on the night before the feast was so much a part of the culture of the people, especially in England, that some kind of substitute had to be invented.

Trick or Treat

Every country has legends about ghosts and such things. And many of those legends spoke of certain times of the year, especially gloomy times like those of the beginning of winter, when evil spirits walked about and these legendary characters like goblins roamed the earth. It was an easy thing therefore, to work up a substitute for the All Hallows' procession. The real thing was forbidden; the cheap substitute was easily introduced. They were being persecuted. And they lived in confusion and fear, what with their priests in hiding, barely able to give them the essentials of the Sacramental life. So in England the vigil of All Saints was kept in a completely transformed way. What had been the great night of the saints became the Walpurgis night of the ghosts. For relics, the figures of witches and goblins and black cat were substituted. And for the impersonation of the saints they were encouraged to "dress up" as witches and such, or merely to get into masquerade costumes of some sort. Anything at all, rea1ly just so the meaning of the whole affair was definitely buried.

We in this country have inherited the paganization of Hallowe'en. The terrible thing about it all is that we Catholics have gone right along with it. How many Catholic schools are there in this country now where instead of cutouts of pumpkin faces and witches and the like, the pictures of the saints of God are put about classrooms in preparation for the celebration of All Hallows' Eve? In how many Catholic homes are children taught the real meaning of the festivities on the night of the 31st of October? Are there any parties in Catholic homes where the children "dress up" as saints? Or are we all quite content to accept the pagan and anti-Catholic tradition as it has come down to us?

Counter-Reformation

There is no need for us to be sheep and go along blindly with the pagan thing, as we now have it. Hallowe' en, as it is celebrated in our country, is senseless. Even the youngsters do not believe in witches and goblins. Then why bother even making representations of them? What point is there in publicizing what does not exist?

It is a doctrine of our Faith that the saints of God, the members of the Church Triumphant, are very much interested in their brothers and sisters of the Church Militant. They can help us and they want to help us. They are members of our own spiritual family; closer to us, really, than are the members of our human families. It's hardly proper to begin their great feast by ignoring them in favor of non-existent things like goblins! Everybody likes a party. And if there is any day in the year when we really should have one, it is that day on which we rejoice with our glorified brothers and sisters, the saints in heaven. There is a parish in the Midwest in which the pastor has restored the holiness to Halloween. And everybody in his parish has a good time. In fact, they-especially the children-would not go back to the old form for anything. On the afternoon of the 31st of October each year, all the relics of the saints which the parish possesses are placed for veneration in a beautiful shrine in the parish hall. Then that evening the people of the parish gather with their pastor in that hall and sing hymns of praise to God for the glory which He has in his saints.

These people also remember the events of Hallowe'en, 1517. So they pray for the return to the One True Church of the descendants of those who destroyed Hallowe'en in the first place. And then the ancient solemn procession is restored. The holy relics are carried from the parish hall to the church in a candlelight procession during which the congregation sings the Litany of All the Saints and hymns in their honor. The relics, once in the church, are placed on the altar-just as was the custom centuries ago. And there they remain through the solemn celebration of the Mysteries on the next day, and on to the closing Benediction on the night of the feast itself. After the procession everybody goes back to the parish hall and has a fine big party to congratulate the saints and to express their own happiness in having such good friends before God's throne.

That is the sort of thing that can be done in a parish. But what about private homes? Why not begin to give children an understanding of the real meaning of Hallowe'en? Youngsters like to "dress up" for that occasion. Let them dress like the saints-as was once done in Catholic Europe. And trying to look like saints will have a whole lot more to do with their Christlike behavior than will their trying to impersonate little demons. Sometimes they do that well enough without benefit of costume!

So a Catholic family can celebrate Hallowe'en and have both fun and growth in the Christ-life. If the family is fortunate enough to have relics of some of the saints, why not put those relics in some place of honor in the living-room? Surround the relics with lights and flowers and greens and make a special shrine for the great feast And if, as would be more probable, the family does not have relics, then pictures of the patron saints of children would be more than fitting. Above all, let there be a picture or statue of Our Lady, Queen of the Saints, in place of honor on this day. The family, with the children's guests, could say a few prayers in honor of the saints at the Hallowe' en Altar. And a hymn could be sung. Then a party. A real good party, too.

We are formed by the things we do well as by our thoughts. The "Reformers" were very much aware of this fact were determined to do away with ancient doctrine of the veneration of saints. So they did not content themselves with preaching against it and writing against it. They struck at a custom which had become very much part of the people's lives. Even the most casual glance at what their work did to Protestants' ideas about veneration of the saints will prove how effective was their action.

It is really ironic that we Catholics should go along with the pagan thing which is today's Hallowe' en-and then, next day, after that sort of preparation try to celebrate with the Church the great feast of our triumphant fellow members in Christ. The excesses of the night before, the silly buffoonery of an ordinary 'Hallowe'en Party', scarcely helps our preparing to renew our faith in glory of the Church Militant.

The saints in triumph can lead us to deeper appreciation of what it means to be "Christened" deeper in Baptism. Giving thanks to God on All Hallows' Eve by venerating saints instead of playing pranks in celebrating non-existent goblins will help increase our life in Christ. Not one of us can afford to neglect ever the smallest means to this end, Eternity-our eternity in Christ with the saints, depends upon it!