All Souls’ Day: Soul Cakes, Prayer and Memory

As the bells of All Saints’ Day fall silent, a gentler sound takes their place — the slow, measured knell for the departed. 2 November, All Souls’ Day, was the moment when the living turned their hearts toward those still journeying through Purgatory.
The season of light ended not in mourning, but in hope — that love and prayer could reach beyond the grave. The word soul comes from Old English sawol, “the spiritual essence of a person.”

The “Mass of Souls,” or Soul Mass Day, was first proclaimed in 998 AD by Abbot Odilo of Cluny. He ordered that every monastery in his order should celebrate a Mass for “all the faithful departed.” From Cluny, the custom spread throughout Europe.

Yet its roots run deep into pagan soil. Romans had their Parentalia, a spring festival for the dead where families brought cakes and wine to tombs. Celts laid food on thresholds at Samhain to honour their ancestors. Christianity sanctified these gestures, and the offering of food became the offering of prayer.