YOU NEED THANK ODILON, HE ENSURED ALL THE SOULS IN PURGATORY ARE REMEMBERED ON NOVEMBER 2

I have been too curious for too long as to how All Souls' Day came to be celebrated on November 2nd. Yes, November is dedicated to the souls in Purgatory (and I'm a little obsessed with them and their welfare as souls who have a place in Heaven but who must first expiate their sins in the fires or ice boxes of Purgatory). But exactly how did it come to pass that all the faithful departed or all souls in Purgatory are commemorated on November 2nd?

The person who assigned November 2nd as the feast of All Souls was St Odilon, or "Père Odilon" as he would have been known back in his day because he was a French priest. In fact, Odilon was the fifth Benedictine abbot of Cluny, who lived from 962 to 1048.

Before he selected one whole day to honor all the souls who died in the arms of Mother Church, Odilon heard of the severe disappointment he and his monks caused demons because he saved souls from their torments, and as you are about to learn this motivated him to do even more for souls.

Odilon learned of how he defeated demons from a fellow Frenchman who related a strange turn of events. The Frenchman had voyaged to Jerusalem on pilgrimage, and on his return to his native France, his ship was met with storms and he had had to take refuge in a port on an isle near Sicily. There the French pilgrim sought out a holy mystic who lived as a hermit. The hermit-mystic had actually seen Purgatory, and divulged to the pilgrim, "Very near this place, there is a crater...At certain times it belches up clouds of smoke and flame."

The hermit-mystic had caught glimpses of demons who were allowed to detain souls in the crater, "I have seen demons carrying off the souls of sinners and hurling them into that frightful abyss, in order to torment them for a while." The mere fact that it was "for a while" or temporary is indicative of the nature of Purgatory because it is not eternal, but this part of Purgatory was like Hell in that demons were allowed persecute the souls as to their sins, but they were only granted a little time. 

The hermit-mystic had heard the demons discuss Odilon, "I hear the evil spirits conversing among themselves and complaining that some of these souls have escaped from them; they blame pious persons who, by their prayers and sacrifices, hasten the deliverance of these souls. Odilon and his monks are the ones who seem to terrify them most."

It bears emphasizing that the demons were distressed that the souls were spending less time in Purgatory because the prayers and offerings of Odilon and his monks were winning them quick release. 

The hermit-mystic charged the French pilgrim with a solemn task, "When you return to your country, I ask you in the name of God to exhort the abbot and monks of Cluny to redouble their prayers and alms for the relief of these poor souls."

When he finally returned to France, the pilgrim made it his business to tell Odilon, who took the matter with grave seriousness.  Odilon reacted by ordering that in all Benedictine monasteries November 2nd was to be enshrined as the day of praying for all the souls who had passed on. In time this became the norm throughout the worldwide Church. 

In this post, I may have been patronizing in that I have over-emphasized that November 2nd is dedicated to all the souls in Purgatory. But my intention was to acknowledge that this day of November 2nd is a day when all souls in Purgatory are honored, even the ones who are totally forgotten, or who are grudgingly remembered by their loved ones but who do not get any prayers  or sacrifices. And perhaps we may give their loved ones a pass, and instead of castigating them for not praying or offering sacrifices, we might use November 2nd as a day when we pray for the ones in Purgatory who are in dire need. And the fact that they have a whole day when we remember them is all thanks to Odilon. 

I learned of Odilon and his role in helping all the holy souls to the point of appointing one day to them in Father Charles Arminjon's The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life which is available in the SpiritDaily Store.