November 1st - All Saints

The feast of All Saints is a double feast with Octave. The universal celebration of this feast developed from the dedication of the Pantheon to St. Mary and the Martyrs. This dedication took place on May 13th 610. In some places, and the in Byzantine East to this day, a celebration of All Saints took place after Trinity Sunday. The celebration of the feast spread and Gregory IV transferred the feast and dedication to November 1st in 835. Louis the Pious spread the celebration throughout his empire and the feast entered the Universal Calendar. Sixtus IV gave the feast an Octave in the fifteenth century. The liturgical colour for the feast, and its Octave, is white. The feast was preceded yesterday by a Vigil. The twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, and first Sunday of November, is commerated in the Office and at Mass.

At Vespers yesterday afternoon the antiphons Vidi turbam magnam etc were sung, doubled, with Pss. 109, 110, 111, 112 & 116. The Office hymn was Christe Redemptor omnium. After the collect of the feast a commemoration of the Sunday was sung (the antiphon on the Magnificat being Vidi Dominum for the Saturday before the first Sunday of November). The Suffrages were omitted as were the Dominical preces at Compline.

At Mattins the invitatory is Regem regum Dominum, Venite adoremus: Quia ipse est corona sanctorum omnium. The Office hymn is Christe Redemptor omnium. In the first nocturn the antiphons Novit Dominus etc are sung, doubled, with psalms 1, 4 and 8. The lessons are taken from the book of the Apocalypse. These are the same as in the post-Clementine editions of the Breviary. In the second nocturn the antiphons Domine, qui operati etc are sung, doubled, with psalms 14, 23 and 31. The lessons are the same as in the modern editions but these are attributed to St. Augustine rather than St. Bede. In the third nocturn the antiphons Timete Dominum etc are sung, doubled, with psalms 33, 60 and 96. The homily in the third nocturn is from St. Augustine. The lessons are the same as in the modern editions. Today the eighth and ninth lessons are read together to form an extended eighth lesson of the feast. The ninth lesson is formed of the three lessons appointed for the Sunday. These are from a homily of St. Jerome on St. Matthew's Gospel. The seventh lesson, of the Sunday, is longer than that found in the modern editions and contains the text Quod ut manifestius...to si et ipsi dimittant minora peccantibus, about half of the modern eighth lesson. The eighth lesson (of the Sunday) begins Si autem ob factam and continues with all the remaining text of the modern eighth lesson but then continues Oblatus est ei unus... to ...et peccatoris appellari stultitiam, text not found in the modern books. The ninth lesson (of the Sunday) begins Sed quo modos.. and continues to..nec a prudentibus viris recipiendae text which, again, is absent from the modern books and then continues with Sic et Pater meus and the rest of the text of the modern ninth lesson. The Te Deum is sung.

At Lauds the antiphons Vidi turbam magnam etc are sung, doubled, with psalms 99, 92, 62-66, Benedicite & 148-149-150. The Office hymn is Jesu salvator saeculi. After the collect of the feast commemorations are sung of the Sunday anf of St. Caesarius.

The antiphons sung at Lauds, Vidi turbam magnum etc, are used at the Hours in the usual order. Prime has the festal arrangement (Pss. 53, 118i, 118ii) and the lectio brevis, Benedictio et claritas, is proper to the feast and sung throughout the Octave. Both Quicumque and the Dominical preces are omitted.

Mass is sung after Terce. The Gloria is sung, the second collect is of the Sunday. The Creed is sung, the the common preface is sung and the last Gospel is of the Sunday.

At second Vespers the antiphons Vidi turbam magnam etc are again sung with psalms from the Common of Apostles but the fifth psalm is Ps. 115, Credidi. The Office hymn is, as yesterday, Christe Redemptor omnium. After the collect of the feast a commemoration is sung of the Sunday. The Suffrage is omitted. After Benedicamus Domino and its response Vespers of the Dead are sung. At Compline the Dominical preces are omitted.

Image: Missale Romanum 1572 Paris Google Books.