Preparing for All Saints: Nine Days of Hope and Prayer

Holiness often grows where nobody is looking: beside a sickbed, over the washing-up, in an apology offered before pride can stop it. The saints remind us that an ordinary life, entrusted to God, can become a place of extraordinary love.

This Tuesday, 20 October 2026, the Church is journeying through Ordinary Time. Ahead lies All Saints on Sunday, 1 November—a feast that turns our eyes towards heaven and helps us walk more faithfully here on earth. A simple novena, beginning on 23 October and ending on 31 October, offers nine days to prepare.

A feast larger than the names we know

All Saints honours everyone who is with God in heaven: the saints whose names fill churches and prayer books, and the countless others whose holiness was never publicly recognised.

The feast is not an awards ceremony for a spiritual elite. It celebrates the victory of Christ’s grace in human lives. The saints came from different countries, circumstances and centuries; their unity lies in belonging to him.

In Revelation 7:9–17, Saint John describes an immense multitude from every nation standing before God. This vision gives the feast its breadth and hope: God’s invitation is not confined to one people or one kind of life.

Catholics ask the saints to pray for us because death does not sever the unity of Christ’s body. We worship God alone; honouring his saints means giving thanks for what his grace has accomplished in them.

How the feast took shape

Christians have honoured the martyrs since the early centuries of the Church. Over time, shared celebrations developed to remember many holy witnesses together.

An important milestone came in 609, when Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome as a church in honour of Mary and all the martyrs. That dedication took place on 13 May. The observance of All Saints on 1 November developed later and became widely established in the Western Church.

All Saints is followed by All Souls on 2 November. The distinction matters: on All Saints we rejoice in those already enjoying heaven; on All Souls we pray especially for the faithful departed who are being purified before entering its fullness.

Nine days of preparation at home

A novena is nine days of prayer. This home preparation is an optional devotion, not an obligation, and it needs no elaborate materials or special formula.

From 23 to 31 October, set aside five quiet minutes each day. If helpful, place a crucifix or a saint’s picture nearby. Light a candle only where it can burn safely.

Begin with the Sign of the Cross. Read a few lines from the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1–12, then ask: what might this look like in my life today?

Choose one small act of love: listen without interrupting, offer practical help, pray for someone you find difficult, or quietly put right a wrong.

You might finish with this simple prayer:

Lord Jesus, you call us to holiness in the life before us. Through the prayers of all your saints, teach us to love you and our neighbour. Give us courage to begin again, and lead us towards the joy of heaven. Amen.

Bring that hope into November

Plan to attend Mass on All Saints, which falls on a Sunday this year. At home, learn about a patron saint or invite each family member to name a virtue they hope to practise.

Do not measure the preparation by how peaceful you feel. Holiness is a response to grace, renewed through small, faithful choices.

Begin where you are. God is already at work there.