Honoring the dead

This week Catholics honored the deceased in back-to-back feast days: All Saints Day on Nov. 1 and All Souls Day on Nov. 2. Every year on All Saints Day, a holy day of obligation, the faithful pay tribute to canonized saints of the Church and ask for their intercession. Saints are believed to be in full communion with God—in other words, they’re believed to already be in heaven based on “heroic virtue” and “fidelity to God’s grace” during their life on earth. Read more