Prayer for All Hallows' Eve: The Collect of the Vigil of All Saints
Halloween takes its name from All Hallows' Eve, the evening before the Solemnity of All Saints ("hallows" is an old English word for saints). In the older Roman calendar October 31 was kept as a vigil, a day of quiet preparation for the great feast, with its own Mass. Its opening prayer, given below, asks God to multiply His grace in us so that we may rejoice with the saints whose feast is about to begin.
It is a simple way to give the evening a Christian center. Pray it with your family before trick-or-treating or a costume party, light a candle for the saints you are named after, or read the life of a favorite saint together. The words of the vigil's Introit, from the Book of Wisdom, are included as a short meditation.
The Prayer
Introit (Wisdom 3:8): The Saints judge nations, and rule over people: and the Lord their God shall reign for ever. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: praise is comely for the upright. Collect: O God, our Lord, multiply in us Thy grace, and grant us gladness in the holy profession of those whose glorious festivities we anticipate. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
All ye holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
Tomorrow: Prayer for All Saints Day. See also: Litany of the Saints.
Sources: Introit and Collect of the Vigil of All Saints from The Mass Every Day of the Year (1916). Public domain.
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