All Souls Day FAQ {why it is important, plenary indulgence, liturgical resources, and more!}

An often-forgotten, but significant feast is coming up–All Souls Day!

If you have questions about why and how to commemorate All Souls with your children, you’ve come to the right place!

FIRST: before All Souls Day, we celebrate All Saints Day! Click for a few liturgical resources to celebrate that feast HERE.

Now, let’s answer a few questions:

Why is All Souls Day so important?

First, the Church asks us to pray for the poor souls in purgatory. This quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us about our relationship through Christ with others that not even death can overcome:

“In this wonderful exchange, the holiness of one profits others, well beyond the harm that the sin of one could cause others. Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin.” (1475)

While you can pray for the poor souls throughout the year, having a special day (with the plenary indulgence available for the first 8 days in November) is a way you can reiterate to your children the importance of continually praying for the dead.

You can find an additional in-depth answer to this question on a previous blog: A friend asked me: “When you die, who will pray for you?”

What is the November “secret” you keep talking about?

This blog post became incredibly popular a few years ago so we have started resharing it every year! Head over there to read more about this multi-day Catholic tradition available at the beginning of November.

How do I fulfill the All Souls Plenary Indulgence?

There is still time to order our All Souls Plenary Indulgence Cards which includes all the information and steps to full this plenary indulgence! Plus, it also includes a place you can write down the names of each person you are offering the daily plenary indulgence for.

If you are seeing this after October 29th (so it is too late for the cards to arrive in time), you can also CLICK HERE to find a printable cheat sheet. 

How do I explain what a plenary indulgence IS to young children?

We get this question A LOT. Click HERE for a step-by-step way to explain Plenary Ingulences to children.