All Souls Day is November 2. In 2026 it falls on a Monday, the day after All Saints Day. On November 1 the Church celebrates everyone already in heaven. On November 2 she prays for all the faithful departed who may still be undergoing purification before they see God.

The simplest way to keep the day is to pray for someone by name: a grandparent, a parent, a friend who died this year, a classmate you have not thought about in a long time. Then pray for the dead whom no one is remembering.

Why Catholics pray for the dead

The Church teaches that some people die in God’s grace and friendship without being fully purified. Their salvation is assured, but they undergo a final purification so they can enter the joy of heaven. The Church calls this purification purgatory. Catechism 1030–1031

Praying for the dead is older than the Church. In Second Maccabees, Judas Maccabeus takes up a collection so that a sacrifice can be offered for soldiers who had died, and the writer praises him for keeping the resurrection in mind. 2 Maccabees 12:43–46

The Catechism cites that passage and names how the Church helps the dead: above all through the Eucharistic sacrifice, and also through almsgiving, indulgences and works of penance offered for them. Catechism 1032

All of this rests on the communion of saints. The Church on earth, the souls being purified and the saints in heaven are one family in Christ. The Catechism says our prayer for the dead can help them and can also make their intercession for us effective. Catechism 958

Simple ways to pray on November 2

Go to Mass and bring your dead with you in prayer. You can also ask your parish to offer a Mass for someone who has died, which the Catechism names first among the ways the Church helps them.

Visit a cemetery. Pray at the graves of people you loved, and stop at a few you do not recognize. Some of those names may have no one left to pray for them.

Learn the short prayer the Church has used for centuries: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.” It takes ten seconds, so it fits at a red light, a grave or the end of a meal.

The November indulgences

The Church also grants plenary indulgences that apply only to the souls in purgatory. From November 1 to 8, one can be gained each day by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead, even silently. On All Souls Day, one can be gained by visiting a church or oratory and praying the Our Father and the Creed there. With the bishop’s consent, that visit may be made on the Sunday before or after, or on All Saints Day. Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, grant 29

The usual conditions apply: sacramental confession, Holy Communion, prayer for the Pope’s intentions, and freedom from attachment to any sin, even venial. The three conditions can be fulfilled several days before or after the visit, though Communion and the prayer for the Pope are fittingly made on the same day. Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, norm 20

Seeking an indulgence is a devotion the Church offers, not a requirement. If you cannot meet every condition, the visit and the prayer are still worth making. The same grant offers a partial indulgence for visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead, and for praying “Eternal rest.”

Keep a list for November

Write down the names of the people you want to pray for and keep the list where you pray, on paper or in your phone. Pray for one name each day of the month.

If you want to understand the teaching behind the day, Creedo’s Catechism map includes a Purgatory course that begins with the same paragraphs cited here. We have also written about how the communion of saints works in the other direction. Why Catholics ask the saints to pray for them

Sources and further reading