Sanctus Dies

Western civilization and Christianity are inseparable.

When secularists try to sever Western society from the one true faith, the result is the same as ripping a plant from its roots: death.

Of the many aspects of our culture influenced by Christianity, the holidays we celebrate are a major component.

In addition to the obviously religious holidays like Christmas and Easter, other holidays like Valentine’s Day and Saint Patrick’s Day are also inherently Catholic.

But as we celebrate Halloween today, surely we can conclude this holiday cannot have Catholic origins.

Right?

Wrong.

As many Catholics know, Halloween’s etymological roots stem from “hallow,” meaning holy, as October 31st is the eve of All Saints’ Day.

The earliest trace of honoring the saints on a special day goes back to the 4th century, as St. Ephraem referenced May 13th as the feast day of the Church’s martyrs. A few centuries later, Pope Boniface IV consecrated Rome’s Pantheon—its pagan temple—to “the Blessed Virgin and all martyrs,” converting it to a Church and establishing the date as the official day of celebration.

In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III dedicated the chapel at St. Peter’s Basilica on November 1st for all saints, broadening the scope from the previous focus on martyrs.

Roughly 100 years later, Pope Gregory IV solidified the Nov 1st date as the official All Saints’ Day that would be celebrated throughout the Western Church, later being dubbed “Halloween” by Medieval Brits.

While it is beautiful to honor those who have finished the race and received the unperishable crown, what about those who are still undergoing the purifying process?

Abbot Odilo of Cluny devised the fantastic idea in the 11th century, arguing the faithful departed in purgatory needed a special day for the mystical body of Christ to offer up prayers on their behalf. To make things simple, the day was designated on Nov 2nd, creating a liturgical triduum that Catholics worldwide still celebrate.

Similar to essentially every Christian holiday, Halloween inevitably receives the “that’s a pagan holiday” treatment.

Let’s take a closer look.

Ancient Celtic pagans used to celebrate a holiday called Samhain on October 31st and November 1st, viewing it as both the start of winter and the new year. Their tradition explained that the night before Samhain, the veil between the worlds thinned and the souls of the dead roamed the Earth. The rites included bonfires, sacrifices on hilltops, and, most notably, costumed disguises to prevent the roaming ghosts from seeing them.

Now, one might think: “this seems pretty similar to what we currently celebrate…maybe it is a pagan holiday after all.”

But one has to remember that the early Church began as a minority in a majority pagan environment. Even after the Edict of Milan and the Church’s rise from the catacombs, paganism still had a sizable influence on the culture at large.

Because of this, the Church oftentimes Christianized existing pagan holidays. Pope Gregory I (late 6th century) was known to encourage missionaries to not ban pagan customs but to “convert them into a Christian purpose.” With this in mind, it is intuitive why November 1st was chosen as the date to supplant the previous May 13th date.

So instead of wearing costumes to disguise themselves from the ghosts allegedly lurking, Catholics began to dress as mostly saints and angels, with a sprinkle of some ghostly imagery as a reminder of our mortality and the need to glorify God in this life so we can glorify Him in the next.

By the Middle Ages, the tradition of souling—going around singing or praying for the dead in exchange for “soul-cakes”—had become popular and became the precursor for the modern practice of trick-or-treating. Fortune-telling, storytelling, and general mischief-making became more popular as well as time went on. Soon, nearly the entire realm of Christendom would celebrate the holiday.

This would change in the early 16th century.

The Protestant Revolution not only caused a difference in attitudes towards Church authority, scripture, and indulgences, but also the celebration of Halloween.

From the Protestant perspective, many of the “errors” of the Catholic Church arose in the Middle Ages, and it was supposedly the Reformers’ job to restore the Church back to its earliest days. While not particularly relevant in and of itself, they viewed Halloween as a representation of the degradation of the Church that occurred over time.

Interestingly enough, there is a fascinating connection between the timing of the Reformation, why it was started, and Catholics’ celebration of Halloween.

For many hard-core Protestants, Halloween and “Reformation Day” share the same day, as Martin Luther infamously nailed his 95 Theses to door of the Wittenberg Church on October 31st.

Perhaps the most riveting detail about his 95 Theses is that he actually affirmed indulgences as a theological concept but chastised their sale.

It was not until later when the conflict escalated and the Church condemned his writings that he began to denounce indulgences from a theological perspective.

Luther’s choice of the date and location of his work was no coincidence; the Church’s name was All Saints’ Church (Schlosskirche), known to receive a large influx of pilgrims to venerate sacred relics and receive indulgences on All Saints Day.

By choosing the specific day of All Hallow’s Eve, Luther ensured there would be lots of foot traffic and eyeballs on his paper.

Furthermore, the connection between his frustration of the sale of indulgences and the liturgical triduum that includes prayer for the dead in purgatory is an obvious one, as indulgences are meant to reduce the temporal punishment that most people will undergo in purgatory.

Because of the contention between Protestantism and the Catholic holiday, it was seldom celebrated in most Protestant countries.

In early America, while modest harvest play parties were relatively common in southern colonies like Maryland and Virginia, the Puritan northeast wanted nothing to do with Halloween, ignoring it and labeling as a superstition.

The first domino to change America’s attitude towards it was the first wave of Irish immigration in the late 19th century.

Children dressing in costumes traveling from house to house and asking for food, money, or treats soon began to see some traction. 1927 is the first time “trick-or-treat” was used in popular culture and it continued to grow in the 1950s after being depicted in the Peanuts cartoon and Disney’s Trick or Treat starring the one and only Donald Duck.

Candy brands also seized the opportunity, propagandizing the country into believing it was much safer for children to receive store bought candy from strangers rather than homemade treats.

By the time Pope John XXIII convened the Church’s most recent ecumenical council in the early 1960s, the celebration’s Catholic foundation had been completely deracinated.

Fast forwarding to today, Catholicism’s influence on Halloween seems to be dead.

But, as we all know, it seemed as if our Savior was dead at one point in time but came back to life when no one was expecting it. Specifically regarding Halloween, as Catholicism continues to gain ground in America, it is not unlikely for the Catholic origins to become top of mind for those celebrating it.

Happy All Hallow’s Eve and may the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace.

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Thanks for reading and until next time.

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