All-Souls' Day

All-Souls' Day, a festival of the Roman Catholic Church, which falls on 2d November. The object of it is, by prayers and almsgiving to alleviate the sufferings of the souls in purgatory. It was first instituted in the monastery of Clugny, 993, and is said to have originated thus: A pilgrim returning from the Holy Land, was driven by a storm on a rocky island somewhere between Sicily and Thessalonica. Here he found a hermit, who told him that among the cliffs of the island was situated the opening into the nether world, through which huge flames ascended, and the groans and cries of souls tormented by evil angels were audible. The hermit had also frequently heard the complaints and imprecations of the devils, at the number of souls that were torn from them by the prayers and alms of the pious; they were especially enraged, he said, against the abbot and monks of Clugny. The pilgrim on his arrival acquainted Odilo, abbot of Clugny, with what had come to his knowledge, and the abbot thereupon appointed the day after All Saints to be kept in his monastery as an annual festival for 'All Souls.' The observance in a short time became general, without any ordinance at large on the subject.