All Saints Day and The Calendar of Saints

Most everyone (including my husband and I) are ready (or preparing) for tonight's Halloween activities. We bought the pumpkin, I drew the design, and Brad just finished the carving. The candy is sitting in a basket in the kitchen, awaiting the first trick-or-treaters. It's a holiday I've always loved.

Tomorrow is another holiday I love -- All Saints' Day. Although we will "transfer" it and celebrate it at Grace Church on Sunday, November 3rd, tomorrow is the "real thing." On this day we celebrate all of the saints who have gone before. And they all deserve it!

The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church began with the early Church. Our use of the term "saint" differs from Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions in that we don’t canonize individuals and we don’t

generally invoke saints as intercessors in prayer. Instead, we believe that all baptized Christians are saints of God and have the potential to be examples of faith to others. We pray for each other and for all Christians as members of the Communion of Saints, including both the living and the dead, since all are considered to be in the hands of God. The first English Book of Common Prayer (BCP) retained a small number of feasts celebrated by the Roman Catholic church, but included no post-Biblical saints. The 1662 BCP, used by Anglicans living in the American colonies, listed the names of 67 saints in its Calendar. The first American BCP (1789) listed no minor Holy Days (lesser feasts) in its Calendar, and that didn’t change in either the 1892 or 1928 BCPs.

Things changed as a result of the General Convention of 1964, when more than 100 new saints’ days were added and the book Lesser Feasts and Fasts – an official resource of the Episcopal Church -- was first published. Since then, the number of saints in the Calendar has gradually increased, and Lesser Feasts and Fasts was updated on the average of every three years. The 2003 General Convention called for a significant revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts that, among other things, would reflect cultural diversity, our ecumenical partners and local customs. This resulted in the development of Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints, which was approved for use in 2009 and added over 100 new saints. One example is G. A. Studdert Kennedy (March 8), a priest who served as chaplain to soldiers on the Western Front during World War I, published poems based on his experience as a war chaplain, was a powerful influence on the pacifist cause, and inspired Desmond Tutu.

In most cases, two generations or 50 years from a person’s death must elapse before that person can be added to the Calendar. If you want to learn more about the saints themselves, and the process by which the Episcopal church adds individuals to the Calendar of Saints, pick up a copy of Holy Women, Holy Men. It’s also available online in a couple of different places.

Our saints weren’t models of perfection. They were flesh-and-blood men and women from various

denominations and traditions, whose lives were shaped by God and who serve as examples of Christian faith and works. I love the hymn we often sing on All Saints' Day, "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God" (Hymn 293). I especially love these words:

"You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,

In Church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea,

For the saints of God are just folks like me,

And I mean to be one too."

In many cases our saints faced serious challenges, because they often held beliefs and positions that made them unpopular during the time they lived. I'm sure they faltered at times, and had to pray for strength. But, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”