All Souls' Day
The day the Church prays for its dead, and the reason Catholics do that at all
All Souls' Day is Monday, November 2, 2026: the day the Church prays for all the faithful departed. Pray the Eternal Rest for your dead by name, go to Mass if you can, and visit a grave. From November 1 to 8, the Church grants a plenary indulgence, applicable to the souls in purgatory, to those who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray for the dead, once a day under the usual conditions; on November 2, also to those who visit a church and pray the Our Father and the Creed.
All Souls' Day 2026 — Key Dates
All Souls’ Day prayers
The day asks for very little in the way of words. These are the two most Catholics say, for their own dead by name and for all the faithful departed.
Eternal Rest
The short one, said at a graveside, on hearing of a death, or whenever someone comes to mind. It is the prayer most Catholics reach for first, and the only one worth memorising.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
For the holy souls in purgatory
Traditionally daily, and especially in November.
Merciful Father, hear the prayers of your Church for the souls who have died in your friendship and are not yet ready to see you. Complete in them what you began. Bring them quickly into your light, and let them pray for us in return. Amen.
The Eternal Rest, line by line, with its Latin and the way to say it for one person by name, is on the Eternal Rest prayer.
For someone who has just died, for a parent, for those left behind, and the psalm the Church prays at a graveside, see Catholic prayers for the dead, which prints cleanly to take to the cemetery. If you are grieving yourself, there are prayers for grief and loss too.
Many parishes keep a book of the dead through November. To keep one at home, print Remembered in prayer, a card with lines for the names of your loved ones and the Eternal Rest.
En español: Oración por los difuntosEm português: Oração pelos falecidos
Praying for the dead in the first week of November? What a plenary indulgence actually is — the conditions in full, and what it does and does not remit.
What Is All Souls' Day?
All Souls' Day, November 2, is the day the Church prays for all the faithful departed. It follows All Saints deliberately: yesterday the Church celebrated those it believes are with God, today it prays for everyone else. The practice rests on a conviction that surprises people who have not met it: that the dead can still be helped, and that the relationship is not ended by death. Catholics pray for their dead because they believe those prayers do something. That depends on purgatory, which is worth stating accurately because it is widely misdescribed. Purgatory is not a second chance and it is not a lesser hell. It is purification for those who die in God's friendship but are not yet ready to see him. Everyone in purgatory is going to heaven. The Church has always been reticent about the details and firm about the substance. What follows is a simple and rather beautiful practice. You can still do something for the people you have lost. Not merely remember them, which is what the world offers, but act on their behalf. For anyone grieving, that turns out to matter enormously. Grief is largely the experience of there being nothing left to do for someone. The Church's answer is that there is.
Observance & Rules
All Souls' Day is not a holy day of obligation, although Mass is celebrated and many parishes offer several. Priests are traditionally permitted to offer three Masses on this day, which is otherwise almost unheard of. During the first eight days of November a plenary indulgence applicable to the souls in purgatory is traditionally available, under the usual conditions, for visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead, once a day. On All Souls' Day itself, a visit to a church or oratory with the Our Father and the Creed gains one too. The usual conditions are sacramental confession, Communion, prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father, and freedom from attachment to sin. That last condition is the one people gloss over, and it is why an indulgence is not a transaction. It is worth reading the conditions properly rather than assuming the visit alone accomplishes it. There is no fasting attached to the day.
In Portuguese, for Brazil: Dia de Finados 2026.
Practical Guide
Have a Mass offered for someone by name. Ask at your parish; there is usually a small offering and there is no requirement about the amount. This is the oldest and most substantial thing Catholics do for their dead. Visit a grave in the first week of November, which is the ancient practice and the point at which the indulgence for the dead is traditionally available. Pray Psalm 130, the De Profundis. It is the psalm the Church has used for the dead for centuries and it asks nothing of your composure, which matters on a day like this. Write the names down. Many parishes keep a book of the dead in November and read the names aloud. Seeing your person's name written in a church is a small thing that people remember for years. And if the grief is still raw, you do not have to pray well. Say the name, ask for mercy for them, and stop. That is a complete prayer.
Praying for the dead rests on one article of the Creed: the communion of saints — the Church on earth, the saints in heaven and the souls in purgatory, held in one body.
Many keep the whole of November with a short daily offering for the holy souls, the St. Gertrude prayer — with the indulgences the Church grants for the dead from November 1 to 8.
Prayers for All Souls' Day
Scripture for This Season
Bible Verses About Death
Scripture for grief, for the dying, and for the Christian hope that death is not the end.
Bible Verses About Hope
Scripture for holding on when the future feels dark, the hope that does not disappoint.
Bible Verses About Grief
Scripture for the weeks after a death, when the words have run out.
Where this falls in the year
- EarlierAll Saints' DayNovember 1, 2026
- LaterChrist the KingNovember 22, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Solemnity
All Souls DaySee the full liturgical calendar — every feast this year, and an embed for your parish site.