notes: November

Notes for the Liturgy during November

1. All Saints' Day is a holyday of obligation in the Universal Church.

2. The month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls. On all the days from November 1st through to November 8th, inclusive, a plenary indulgence, applicable to the Poor Souls only, is granted to those who visit a cemetary and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed. Partial indulgences are granted to those who recite Lauds or Vespers of the Office of the Dead, and tho those who recite the prayer "Requiem aternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace". The Daily Mass for the Dead can be offered on every fourth or third class day of the week from November 3rd until November 8th.

3. At Mass on All Souls' Day (November 2nd), the faithful may hold lit candles during the Gospel, again from the Sanctus through to the end of the Canon, and again for the Absolution after Mass. The Priest says Requiescant in pace instead of Ite Missa est; there is no final blessing. Today all Priests may say three Masses but may keep only one stipend; Priests who say three Masses must say one for all the faithful departed and one for the Holy Father's intentions. If only one Mass is said, it is the formula for the first Mass. A plenary indulgence, applicable to the Poor Souls only, is granted to those who visit any Parish Church or Public Oratory and recite there one Our Father and one Credo.

4. All indulgences whatsoever may be applied to the Poor Souls at any time by way of suffrage. (The simple intention to offer them for the Poor Souls is sufficient.)

5. November 4th is the feastday of St Charles Boromeo (3rd class, except in Seminaries where it is 1st Class, a Patronal Feast). A proper Mass can be found in the Missal supplement, Proprium Sanctorum pro Aliquibis Locis, which may nowadays be used anywhere instead of the Mass provided in the body of the Missal.

(excerpted/adapted from the 2009 Liturgical Ordo, Priestly Fraternity of St Peter)