All Souls Day 2027

All Souls Day 2027 falls on Tuesday, November 2, 2027. On the day after All Saints, the Church prays for all the faithful departed who are still being purified, so that they may come quickly to the joy of heaven. This page gives the 2027 dates and what to do; for the full history, purgatory, St. Odilo of Cluny and the customs of the day, see our main All Souls Day page.

All Souls Day 2027 at a glance

• All Saints Day: Monday, November 1, 2027 (not a holy day of obligation in the US this year; see All Saints Day 2027)
• All Souls Day: Tuesday, November 2, 2027
• Holy day of obligation: no
• Plenary indulgence for the dead, cemetery visit: each day from Monday, November 1, to Monday, November 8, 2027
• Vestments: violet, white or black
• Readings: any of the readings for All Souls or the Masses for the Dead

Is All Souls Day a holy day of obligation?

No. All Souls is a commemoration, not a holy day, and no one is bound to attend Mass. It is still one of the great days of the Catholic year, and churches are often fuller on November 2 than on many feasts, because we come to pray for the people we love. If you can, go to Mass on Tuesday, November 2, and remember your dead by name. Many parishes read aloud the names of everyone buried from the parish in the past year.

Three Masses for the dead

All Souls has a privilege shared only with Christmas: every priest may celebrate three Masses that day. Pope Benedict XV extended the privilege to the whole Church in 1915, in the apostolic constitution Incruentum Altaris, during the First World War, when the dead were beyond counting and many Mass foundations for them had been lost. One of the three Masses is for the priest's own intention, one for all the faithful departed, and one for the intentions of the Holy Father. If you would like a Mass offered for someone who has died, ask at your parish office in October; November dates go fast.

The All Souls indulgence in 2027

The Church opens her treasury for the dead in the first week of November. The Apostolic Penitentiary's Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, grant 29, gives a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory:

1. Each day from November 1 to 8, to anyone who devoutly visits a cemetery and prays for the dead, even if only mentally. In 2027 that runs from Monday, November 1, to Monday, November 8.
2. On All Souls Day, Tuesday, November 2, 2027, to anyone who devoutly visits a church or oratory and prays the Our Father and the Creed there. With the bishop's consent the church visit may be made on the Sunday before or after (October 31 or November 7, 2027) or on All Saints Day.

The usual conditions apply: sacramental confession, Holy Communion, prayer for the pope's intentions, and freedom from attachment to all sin. One plenary indulgence can be gained each day. On other days of the year, visiting a cemetery or praying the Eternal Rest prayer gains a partial indulgence for the dead. For what indulgences are and how they work, see indulgences; for what the Church teaches about the souls being purified, see what is purgatory.

Praying for our dead on All Souls Day 2027

The simplest prayer for the dead is also the most common. The Compendium of the Catechism gives it in English:

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

And in Latin:

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.

Pray it at each grave you visit, and at every meal during November. For longer prayers, the De profundis, the prayer of St. Gertrude and the Office of the Dead, see prayers for the dead, the St. Gertrude prayer and the prayer for the souls in purgatory.

A plan for the week

• Sunday, October 31: go to Sunday Mass and, if your bishop allows it, make the church visit for the All Souls indulgence after Mass.
• Monday, November 1: go to Mass for All Saints if you can, even though it is not required this year, then visit a cemetery.
• Tuesday, November 2: go to Mass, pray the Our Father and Creed in church, and remember your dead by name.
• November 3 to 8: visit a cemetery each day you can, even for five minutes, and pray for the dead; on Saturday and Sunday, November 6 and 7, bring the family.

The month of November belongs to the holy souls. Families in Mexico keep Día de los Muertos on November 1 and 2, Polish and Filipino Catholics fill the cemeteries with candles, and parishes keep a Book of the Dead open by the altar all month. Let us not forget the souls no one prays for.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.