All Saints Day: A Family Feast for Every Friend in Heaven
One day set aside to celebrate them all — the famous and the forgotten, the great and the small — and to remember that we are called to join them.
Every year on November 1, the Church throws a party for heaven. It is All Saints Day — one feast for all the saints at once, the famous ones and the millions we will never hear about until we meet them ourselves.
It is one of the most joyful days of the year, and one of the most hopeful. Because the saints were not superheroes — they were people like us, who said yes to God.
It is also a beautiful day to gather your family’s favorite saints together. Our hand-painted Miniature Saint Statues collection is made for exactly that.
What Is All Saints Day?
All Saints Day celebrates everyone who is now with God in heaven — the whole great family of the faithful who have gone before us. The Church calls them the Communion of Saints, and they are not far away: they pray for us still.
The very next day, November 2, is All Souls Day, when we pray for all who have died. Together the two days remind us that love does not end with death, and that we are part of a family far bigger than we can see.
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”
— Revelation 7:9
The Saints We Never Hear About
We know the great saints by name — Francis, Thérèse, Michael, Mary. But All Saints Day is also for the hidden ones: the faithful grandmother, the quiet neighbor, the child who loved Jesus with a whole heart.
Heaven is full of ordinary people who loved God in ordinary ways. That is the quiet good news of this feast: holiness is not reserved for the extraordinary few.
Everyone Is Called to Be a Saint
Here is the heart of the day: God does not just want to give us saints to admire — he wants to make us saints too. Every person, including every child, is made for holiness.
A saint is simply someone who let God love them, and who loved him back. That is a calling small enough for a child and big enough for a whole life.
Celebrating the Saints as a Family
All Saints Day is wonderfully easy to celebrate at home. Many families dress up as their favorite saints, share a special meal, or light a candle for each saint on the family shelf.
It is a day to tell the stories again — who these friends in heaven were, and why we love them — and to let children pick a patron to walk with through the year.
A Note for Parents
Let them choose a saint. Invite each child to pick a favorite saint as a special friend and helper for the year.
Tell the stories. On All Saints Day, share one or two saint stories at dinner — children love a hero who loved God.
Remember your own. Talk about grandparents and loved ones who have died; the next day, All Souls Day, pray for them together.
Gather them together. A shelf of saints from our Miniature Saint Statues collection turns the whole feast into something a child can see and hold.
Bringing the Saints Home
A little gathering of saints on a shelf is a visible version of the Communion of Saints — a reminder that a child is surrounded by a whole family of heavenly friends cheering them on.
Build your family’s communion of saints from our hand-painted Miniature Saint Statues collection. And for the littlest ones, our plush collection offers soft, huggable saints to love and pray alongside.
A Prayer for All Saints Day
All you holy saints of God,
great and small, famous and forgotten,
you loved God and now live with him forever.
Pray for our family here below,
help us to follow where you have led,
and bring us one day home to you.
All you saints of God, pray for us. Amen.
All Saints Day is really a family reunion we cannot see yet — a feast of every friend already home with God, and an invitation to each of us to join them. That is the hope the saints hold out: heaven is for ordinary people who love God.
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All you saints of God, surround this home with your prayers, and lead every one of us home to heaven.
For more ways to live the faith together at home, visit the It's Fun to Be Catholic blog.
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