The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed · Monday, November 2, 2026
All Souls' Day 2026
All Souls' Day, November 2 — in 2026, a Monday — is the day the whole Church prays for the dead. It opens November, the month of the Holy Souls, and with it a week in which a visit to a cemetery can gain a plenary indulgence for someone who has died.
What the day is
On All Saints the Church celebrates those already in heaven. On All Souls it prays for those who died in God's friendship but are still being made ready for Him — the souls in purgatory. The day was set by St Odilo, abbot of Cluny, for his monasteries around the year 998, and spread to the whole Western Church. Since 1915 every priest may celebrate three Masses on All Souls' Day. The vestments are violet or black (and in the United States white is also allowed).
The indulgences, in plain words
The Church's handbook of indulgences, the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum (4th edition, 1999, grant 29), grants these for the faithful departed. This is a summary in our own words:
The cemetery visit, November 1–8. Each day from November 1 to November 8 (November 1 – November 8, 2026), a plenary indulgence is granted to anyone who devoutly visits a cemetery and prays for the dead, even if only silently. It can be applied only to the souls in purgatory.
All Souls' Day, the church visit. On All Souls' Day — from noon on November 1 until midnight on November 2 — a plenary indulgence for the dead is granted for visiting a church or oratory and praying there the Our Father and the Creed. A bishop may move this to the Sunday before or after, or to All Saints.
The rest of the year. A cemetery visit with prayer for the dead on any other day, and the Eternal Rest prayed devoutly, each gain a partial indulgence for the dead.
The usual conditions, for any plenary indulgence: sacramental confession, Holy Communion, prayer for the intentions of the Pope (an Our Father and a Hail Mary is enough), and freedom from attachment to any sin, even venial. Confession and Communion may be made some days before or after — the Apostolic Penitentiary has said about twenty days — and one confession can serve several indulgences, but Communion and the prayer for the Pope are needed for each. Only one plenary indulgence can be gained a day. If the conditions are not all met, the indulgence is partial.
In 2020 and 2021 the Apostolic Penitentiary extended the cemetery indulgence through all of November because of the pandemic. Those were one-time decrees; the standing grant is November 1–8.
Prayers for the dead
Eternal Rest
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.
May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
About the Eternal Rest prayer →
Psalm 130, the De profundis
The Church's psalm for the dead, prayed at funerals and in the Office of the Dead.
A prayer for all the faithful departed
The ancient collect of the Mass for All Souls:
November, the month of the Holy Souls
The whole month is traditionally given to praying for the dead. Some ways to keep it:
- Write the names of your dead in your parish's Book of the Dead, which stays near the altar through November, or have a Mass offered for them.
- Visit the graves of family and friends during November 1–8, and pray there.
- Pray the Eternal Rest at grace after meals, at every cemetery you pass, and when you hear of a death.
- Remember the forgotten — the souls no one prays for any more.
- Next year, start early: the Novena for the Holy Souls runs October 24 to November 1. Novena calendar →
The teaching behind it all: what purgatory is, from Scripture →
All Souls questions
When is All Souls' Day 2026?
Monday, November 2, 2026.
Is All Souls' Day a holy day of obligation?
No. It is a day of prayer for the dead, and many Catholics go to Mass, but there is no obligation to.
How do I gain the All Souls indulgence?
Visit a church or oratory between noon on November 1 and midnight on November 2, and there pray the Our Father and the Creed — with the usual conditions: confession, Communion, prayer for the Pope's intentions, and no attachment to any sin. It can be applied only to the souls in purgatory.
What is the November 1–8 cemetery indulgence?
On each day from November 1 to 8, a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the dead, is granted to the faithful who devoutly visit a cemetery and pray for the departed, even silently — under the usual conditions. On other days of the year the same visit earns a partial indulgence.
Can I gain more than one plenary indulgence a day?
No — one plenary indulgence a day. But one confession can serve for several days' indulgences; Communion and the prayer for the Pope's intentions are needed for each one.
Why do Catholics pray for the dead?
Because death does not end charity. The Church teaches that those who die in God's friendship but still need purification can be helped by the prayers of the living — the practice already attested in 2 Maccabees 12.
Keep a list of the people you pray for, with gentle daily reminders, in the app — free to download.
