The Church sets aside the entire month of November for the special cause of making prayers and sacrifices for the Holy Souls in Purgatory who, while being perfected, suffer a great longing to be with God.

The Fourth Commandment (to honor one’s father and mother) enjoins on us the obligation to pray for those in our family who have gone before us, including our ancestors who passed down the Holy Faith.

To that end, the Church has established the following indulgences for the month of November:

  1. A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, is available on each of the first eight days of November and is granted to the faithful who visit a cemetery and pray for the faithful departed, under the normal conditions of a plenary indulgence.  On the other days of the month the indulgence is a partial one.
  2. A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who visit a church on November 2 and pray the Pater Noster and Credo.
  3. A partial indulgence is available on every other day of the month for those who recite the Requiem prayer:  “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.  May they rest in peace.  Amen.”

“The good God will render us back the good we do for the poor souls a hundred fold.” — St. John Vianney

“It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sin.” — 2 Machabees 12:46