All Saints and All Souls: Names We Carry
All Saints’ Day celebrates the saints in heaven. All Souls’ Day is a day of prayer for the faithful departed. In the Western Christian calendar, they fall on 1 and 2 November respectively. In 2026, those dates are Sunday and Monday.
The days belong together, but their emphasis is different: thanksgiving for holiness, and prayerful care for those who have died. Both can make room for the people whose names remain close to us.
At Paisley Honey, engraving begins with words someone has chosen to preserve. A name, a date or a brief dedication turns an object into a reminder of a particular person. The inscription does not tell their whole story. It gives that story a small place in daily life.
November’s days of remembrance offer something similar. They make room to speak a name again, to give thanks, and to entrust someone we love to God.
What is the difference between All Saints and All Souls?
All Saints: giving thanks for the saints
All Saints honours all the saints in heaven, including those whose names are unknown to us. The celebration reaches beyond the familiar saints represented in paintings, churches and devotional objects.
It invites gratitude for the breadth of holiness: lives recognised publicly, and lives whose faithfulness was known to only a few people. You might remember someone who taught you to pray, welcomed you into a church, or showed you what patient kindness could look like.
That remembrance does not require us to make declarations about another person’s eternal state. It gives us a reason to thank God for the good we received through their life.
All Souls: praying for the departed
All Souls is formally the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. Catholic practice asks God to receive and purify those who have died, bringing them into the fullness of life with him. The day expresses the Church’s continuing prayer for its departed members.
The US bishops’ reflection on November remembrance encourages naming the dead in prayer and offering practical care to those who mourn.
Anglican churches also keep forms of remembrance, though observance and teaching vary. Follow the practice of your own church, especially when joining a public service.
A simple way to pray for someone who has died
You do not need to prepare a long prayer. Choose a few quiet minutes and begin with the person’s name.
Place a photograph, written name or familiar keepsake nearby, if you find that helpful.
Thank God for one particular thing about their life: a kindness, a shared moment, something they taught you.
Entrust them to God in your own words. You might say, “God of mercy, receive [name] into your care.”
Leave a little silence. You do not have to fill it or turn it into a feeling.
Pray the Our Father, and remember others who are grieving too.
This is a suggested private practice, rather than a replacement for a church’s funeral or memorial prayers. The USCCB’s prayers for the departed and mourners offer established Catholic texts.
One familiar short prayer is:
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
You can pray for someone recently lost, someone who died years ago, or people who have no one to remember them by name.
Praying a decade of the rosary for the departed
Catholics may offer a rosary for someone who has died. If a whole rosary feels too much, begin with one decade.
Name your intention, choose a mystery and pray one Our Father, ten Hail Marys and a Glory Be. You may conclude with the short prayer for eternal rest. Keep the chosen mystery at the heart of the decade, allowing your intention to rest within it.
The Glorious Mysteries, with their emphasis on resurrection and life with God, may be particularly meaningful. You can also follow the mysteries normally assigned to that day. There is no need to buy a special memorial rosary.
Our guide to praying the rosary while grieving explores this more fully. For the standard sequence, the USCCB rosary guide is a useful reference.
A remembrance practice with Anglican prayer beads
Anglican prayer beads offer a different structure, usually with four groups of seven beads. They do not require the Catholic rosary’s prayers.
For a simple private remembrance practice, pray the Our Father at the cross. At each larger bead, name someone you wish to remember. Across the seven smaller beads, repeat a short prayer addressed to God, such as: “Lord of mercy, hold them in your love.”
Finish with thanks for their lives and a prayer for those who miss them. This is an optional prayer pattern written for this guide, not a prescribed Anglican liturgy. You can adapt it to your church’s teaching.
Our introduction to Anglican prayer beads explains their structure and use.
When a name becomes an everyday reminder
A photograph may stay on a shelf. A rosary may travel in a bag. A short dedication may be carried without anyone else knowing its significance.
That quiet quality is part of the appeal of a personalised devotional object. Our engraved rosary pouches can hold prayer beads and a chosen inscription. For remembrance, a name or brief dedication can be sufficient; follow the individual listing’s personalisation limits.
If you are choosing a gift for someone who is bereaved, take your cue from them. They may welcome a devotional keepsake, or prefer a letter, a practical kindness, or company. The person and their circumstances should guide the choice.
Making room without making demands
Some days a name brings gratitude. On others it brings tears, anger or a silence for which there are no words. An anniversary can feel different from year to year.
A remembrance practice can hold those differences. You can stop after a short prayer, attend a service, visit a grave, or remember quietly at home. There is no timetable for how grief should feel.
All Saints and All Souls give remembrance a place in the shared calendar. The names themselves remain part of ordinary life, carried in ways as individual as the people we love.
Paisley Honey is a Scottish handmade devotional gift business based in Paisley, with 32,000+ orders fulfilled across platforms and thousands of five-star reviews from customers around the world. Read why customers trust Paisley Honey for more about our work and customer care.
Questions about November remembrance
Can I pray for someone who died a long time ago?
Yes. Prayer for the departed is not limited to recent bereavement or an anniversary.
Must I pray a whole rosary?
No. A decade, a short prayer or a little silence can be a manageable private beginning.
Is All Saints’ Day only about canonised saints?
No. Catholic observance honours all the saints in heaven, including those without a named feast day.
Can I remember someone without a devotional object?
Yes. A name spoken before God is enough. Objects can support remembrance, but they are optional.
Comments