Florida Catholic | Halloween

COMMENTARY

Halloween has its roots in Catholic Christian holy day

Part one of three articles explaining the Christian roots of Halloween, a holiday
that has come into disfavor in some circles in recent years.

MONSIGNOR MICHAEL REED | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

PENSACOLA | There is growing concern among conscientious Christians and peoples of other faiths over Halloween. A day that years ago meant costumes, school carnivals, children's parades, trick-or-treating and candy has come to be known by some as the "devil's day," a day on which evil is condoned and glorified. For some people, Halloween means razor blades in apples, drugged candy, satanic activity and acts of violence against children and animals. These negative and frightening stereotypes, attached to Halloween in recent years, do a great disservice to Christians who, with no intent to encourage evil or the demonic, celebrate this day.

For Catholic Christians, Halloween is a day of preparation for All Saints' Day. This day of preparation was first referred to as "All Hallow Evening" or "All Holy Evening," since "hallow" is a Middle English word meaning holy. With time the name was shortened to "Hallow Evening." All Saints' Day is the real celebration for Catholics, not Halloween.

Halloween poses problems for non-Catholic Christians who do not recognize or celebrate All Saints' Day. Without All Saints' Day, Halloween has no point of reference; no purpose or significance. Easter has the 40 days of Lent as a time of preparation. Christmas has the four weeks of Advent set aside to get ready for Jesus' birth. If we eliminated Easter, then Lent would make no sense. Advent would make no sense without Christmas. Perhaps we can understand why Christians who don't celebrate All Saints' Day have such a hard time with Halloween. It is only natural that Christians who come from religious traditions that don't observe All Saints' Day reject Halloween.

The aversion some Christians feel toward All Saints' Day goes back to the time of the Reformation. It is no coincidence that Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the castle church of Wittenburg on Oct. 31, 1517. Luther's immediate concern was the selling of indulgences, an abusive practice tolerated by church officials at the time. His complaint can be specifically identified with a priest by the name of John Tetzel, who in Luther's eyes was causing scandal with his indulgence campaign. It rightly upset Luther that German bishops just turned their heads to the abuses of Tetzel.

The sale of indulgences was especially brisk before All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Purveyors in indulgences took advantage of grieving families and the guilt-ridden by using fear and fraud to barter certificates of time off from purgatory and entrance into heaven. These abuses were finally condemned at the Council of Trent which met from 1545 to 1563. Strict regulations were adopted to prevent any further abuses. It is understandable how the association of the Reformation with Halloween continues to pose problems.

There were also theological differences between the Roman Catholic Church and 16th-century reformers when it came to saints. The Catholic Church considered it appropriate to recognize the spiritual holiness of members of Christ's church who were declared to be in heaven with God. For Catholics, saints were to be looked upon as examples of virtue worthy of imitation and intercessors who prayed for our earthly needs from heaven. Saints were the success stories of Christian living. Their examples showed Catholic Christians that living a godly life was not impossible or out of reach. They were sources of great encouragement and hope for anyone who wanted to be a good Christian. They demonstrated that the power of God's goodness can and does prevail over the power of the devil and evil.

In the same way that we ask others on earth to pray for us or our needs, so we asked the saints in heaven to talk to the Lord about bringing resolution to our concerns, our battles, and our struggles with darkness, discouragement and weakness. This theology of the Roman Catholic Church goes as far back as Sts. Peter and Paul whose names were often inscribed on catacomb walls asking their prayers and intercessions. In the third century, early church father Origen recognized intercession of saints as praiseworthy and commendable. By the fourth and fifth centuries, recognition of saints as partners with us on our journey to heaven was extended from martyrs to those who had lived exemplary lives of self-denial and penance. Abuses in honoring the saints, which was distinguished from the adoration offered to God alone, did crop up from time to time. Councils such as Avignon in 1209 and the Fourth Lateran (1215) tried to stop exaggerated practices that developed in popular devotions of the saints.

Groups such as the Cathari and Waldenses of the 13th century denied intercession of the saints. Later the Confession of Augsburg (1530) recognized saints as examples, but not as intercessors. Luther, Zwingli and Calvin likewise rejected the Catholic Church's Doctrine of Intercession. In response to the reformers, the Catholic Church called for a council at Trent. It was there that the council members appealed to the tradition handed down by the Apostles and declared that it was "good and useful" for the faithful to invoke the saints in order to obtain benefits from God through Christ, the sole redeemer.

Msgr. Reed is chancellor of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee.

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

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Halloween has its roots in Catholic Christian holy day

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