All Hallowed Tide

 All Hallowed Tide refers to the three days: Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. It is a feast to remember the dead.  In fact, the month of November has an indulgence, at least for this year, that if you visit a cemetery and pray for the deceased, all month, you may gain an indulgence.

Due to the ongoing pandemic and related health and safety measures, the Apostolic Penitentiary – in response to requests from bishops around the world – is once again extending opportunities to gain indulgences for the benefit of the faithful departed.

By means of the decree, the Apostolic Penitentiary “confirms and extends for the entire month of November 2021 all the spiritual benefits already granted on 22 October 2020” – that is, it allows the faithful to gain plenary indulgences for the souls in purgatory by visiting a cemetery on every day in November and praying for those who have died; normally, the indulgence is limited to the first eight days of the month.

The Penitentiary notes in the decree that “from the renewed generosity of the Church, the faithful will certainly draw pious intentions and spiritual vigour to guide their lives according to the Gospel law, in filial communion and devotion to the Supreme Pontiff, the visible foundation and Pastor of the Catholic Church.”

The present Decree, like the one issued last year in the midst of the pandemic, is intended to meet the need to avoid gatherings, a potential cause of the spread of Covid-19, which still affects the world's population to varying degrees.