The night preceding All Saints Day, called All Hallows Eve or Halloween reflects the Jewish faith?s influence on church tradition, according to Michael Gorman, dean of the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary?s Seminary & University in Baltimore.
“Christian holidays are often celebrated by starting the day before like Christmas Eve or the Easter Vigil ? that goes back to the Jewish day beginning at sundown.”
Praying to saints on All Saints Day conveys the unity between living and deceased Christians, Gorman explained. “The deceased are still apart of the church as Christians don?t believe the dead are dead, they believe they are just in a different place.”
For Catholics, Nov. 2 marks All Souls Day, when the church commemorates souls in purgatory and heaven, said Monsignor Jeremiah F. Kenney, archbishop?s delegate for canonical affairs. Kenney oversees the local leg of the canonization process for Baltimore-area men and women being considered for sainthood.
The last Baltimorean considered for sainthood is 18th-century Haitian immigrant Mother Mary Lange.
Lange established the first order of black nuns in the history of the Catholic Church, the Oblate Sisters of Providence. The religious women suffered poverty and racial injustices, nursed the dying, sheltered the elderly and provided homes and education for children of African descent. According to the Sisters? Web site, slaves who had been purchased and then freed were educated and at times admitted into the congregation.
“She was courageous and humble,” Kenney said. “She lived a life dedicated to God and helping fellow human beings. Often humiliated, she still raised her head high.”
In 2005, the Archdiocese of Baltimore submitted the results of their investigation on Lange to the Vatican. Her cause was validated and officially opened in 2006, but she has not yet been declared a saint.
