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Views from the Choir Loft

All Saints celebrations

Veronica Brandt · November 1, 2014

All saints day costumes St Michael, St Francis of Assisi, St Thomas More and St Bernard of Clairvaux DEALLY, CELEBRATING ALL SAINTS day would be a case of an awesome Mass in the morning, a festive lunch then cap it off with Solemn Vespers. Funnily enough our local parish wasn’t offering this, but a local homeschool group was reviving an All Saints Day Parade which had been a regular feature of Western Sydney’s Catholic Homeschool year back when my boys were tiny.

The idea is fairly simple. Children choose a saint to dress up as. They prepare a little speech to introduce their saint. We try find impartial judges to award prizes. Then add in our usual end-of-year concert items plus food and games and there you have an afternoon to remember.

That still leaves the question of how to celebrate All Hallow’s Eve. There are objections to the custom of Trick or Treating on all sorts of levels – nutritional, psychological and here in Australia there is a feeling that it is a foreign custom, another attempt by crass commercialism to make more money.

But the general idea of meeting your neighbours and having sweet food sounds okay.

Talking about ghosts and death is an awesome part of being Catholic. There is this common misconception that conservative people don’t believe in ghosts – which probably relates back the the Protestant rejection of Purgatory – but we can blow this out of the water with true ghost stories such as those featured in the movie Purgatory: the forgotten Church.

There’s a Museum in Rome preserving evidence of the Poor Souls and if you can’t travel all the way there, you could read Hungry Souls.

People are fascinated by death and the afterlife. Catholics have the answers.

November is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. There are indulgences attached to visiting cemeteries. Many parishes will have extra requiem Masses for the Holy Souls. You can use the Office of the Dead for your own private prayers.

You can sing Dies Irae and Requiem Aeternam. And that reminds me of Lux Aeterna, the Communion verse too. Hopefully I’ll get to a sung requiem soon!

After all the joy of All Saints Day I still get more excited about praying for the souls in Purgatory – maybe it’s closer to us here on earth, working out our salvation in fear and trembling.

Happy All Souls Day!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“The argument moves from the existence of the thing to the correctness of the thing: what is, ought to be. Or, a popular variant: if a thing is, it doesn’t make any difference whether it ought to be—the correct response is to adjust, to learn to live with the thing.”

— ‘L. Brent Bozell, Jr.’

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Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

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