The Feasts of All Saints’ and All Souls’, major feasts in the life of the church, are celebrated one day apart, on November 1st and 2nd respectively. All Saints’ Day is a Christian solemnity in honour of the saints of the church, and can be traced back to the 4th century. Here at St. John’s, we will offer a Solemn High Mass at 6:00 p.m. on All Saints’ Day, Wednesday, November 1. The music will include Sir Ernest Bullock’s anthem “Give us the wings of faith to rise within the veil, and see the saints above,” together with the Communion Motet “Hail, glorious spirits” of Christopher Tye,

The next day, Thursday, November 2, is All Souls’ Day, which is a day of prayer, remembrance, and Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. We will offer a Solemn High Mass, again at 6:00 p.m., and the service will be sung to the much-loved setting of Gabriel Faure’s timeless “Requiem” (op. 48). Faure was organist at the church of La Madeleine in Paris, and the Requiem was composed during his tenure there, and sung at his own funeral in 1924.