All Souls’ Day Prayers

All Souls’ Day is November 2, the day the Church prays for everyone who has died, and especially for the people each of us has lost. In 2026 it falls on a Monday, the day after All Saints’ Day. The prayer above is the one most Catholics say: the traditional Eternal Rest prayer, followed by the prayer for all the faithful departed.

Below are short prayers for the day, prayers for parents and for someone who died this year, the traditional prayers of the Church, a simple prayer service you can hold at home with a list of names, and what the day means. If you are grieving a recent loss, Prayers for the Dead has prayers for the first days after a death and for those who are left behind.

How this page is labeled: prayers marked Traditional come from the Church’s liturgy or long use, with their source. All other prayers were written by the Holy Land Prayer team. Scripture quotations are from the NIV, except the deuterocanonical books, which are from the Douay-Rheims.

Short Prayers for All Souls’ Day

• Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Traditional.
• May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Traditional.
• Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Traditional, the Latin form of the Eternal Rest prayer.
• Lord, remember (name) in Your kingdom.
• Jesus, have mercy on everyone I have lost, and on those no one remembers.

A Prayer for All Souls

An All Souls’ Day Prayer for Parents Who Have Died

Change the words to fit your family: one parent, a grandparent, a stepmother or the person who raised you.

A Prayer for Someone Who Died This Year

The first All Souls’ Day after a death is often the hardest. Many parishes read out the names of those who died during the year at the Mass on November 2.

A Prayer for the Forgotten Souls

An old custom on All Souls’ Day is to pray for the dead who have no one left to pray for them.

Traditional Prayers for the Holy Souls

The Eternal Rest Prayer

Traditional. From the ancient Latin funeral liturgy, prayed by Catholics, Anglicans and many other Christians.

Psalm 130, the De Profundis

Traditional. The Church has prayed this psalm for the dead for centuries.

The Prayer of St. Gertrude

Traditional devotion, attributed to St. Gertrude the Great (13th century). Claims that it releases a set number of souls each time it is prayed are not Church teaching; it is a prayer of intercession, and a beautiful one.

A Novena for the Holy Souls

A novena is nine days of prayer for one intention. Many people begin the novena for the holy souls on October 24, so that it ends on November 1, the eve of All Souls’ Day. In 2026, October 24 is a Saturday. Others pray it over the first nine days of November. Pray the prayer below each day, with that day’s intention.

1. Day 1. My parents and grandparents.
2. Day 2. My husband or wife, and the people I loved most.
3. Day 3. My brothers, sisters and relatives.
4. Day 4. Children who have died, and their mothers and fathers.
5. Day 5. Friends, neighbors and teachers who were good to me.
6. Day 6. The priests, sisters and catechists who taught me the faith.
7. Day 7. Those who died suddenly, or alone.
8. Day 8. Those I found hard to love, and those who hurt me.
9. Day 9. The forgotten souls, who have no one left to pray for them.

A Short All Souls’ Prayer Service at Home

You do not need a priest to pray for the dead together. This takes about fifteen minutes and works at a kitchen table, beside a grave, or on a video call with family far away.

1. Prepare. Write the names of everyone you want to remember on one sheet of paper. Light a candle, and set out photographs if you have them.
2. Begin. Make the Sign of the Cross and say: “Lord, we remember before You those we love who have died.”
3. Read. One person reads John 11:25-26, below.
4. Pray the psalm. Say Psalm 130 together.
5. Read the names. Read each name aloud. After each one, everyone answers: “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.” Anyone who wants to can share a short memory.
6. Pray together. Say the Our Father, then the prayer for all souls on this page.
7. Close. “May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.” Keep the list for next year and add to it.

How All Souls’ Day Is Kept

• Mass on November 2. Catholic priests may celebrate three Masses on All Souls’ Day, a permission that dates from 1915. It is not a holy day of obligation, but many people go.
• Visiting graves. The Church grants a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls of the dead, to the faithful who visit a cemetery and pray for the dead on any day from November 1 to 8, under the usual conditions of Confession, Holy Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Pope.
• A month of prayer. November as a whole is traditionally dedicated to the Holy Souls.
• Orthodox Christians do not keep November 2. They remember the dead on the Saturdays of Souls through the year and on set days after a death.
• Undas in the Philippines. Filipino families spend November 1 and 2 at the graves of their relatives, cleaning them, lighting candles and praying together, often late into the night.
• Candles and names. In many countries families light candles on graves, and parishes keep a book where names can be written for the month.

All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day

The two days sit side by side. On All Saints’ Day, November 1, the Church honors everyone who is already with God in heaven, known and unknown. On All Souls’ Day, November 2, it prays for the faithful departed who may still be undergoing purification. The custom of a day for all the dead on November 2 is usually traced to St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny, who set it for his monasteries around the year 998. It spread from there through the Western Church.

Bible Verses for All Souls’ Day

Questions People Ask

Send the Names of Those You Have Lost to Jerusalem

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands over the place Christians remember as the tomb of Jesus, where the hope of the resurrection began. If you would like a prayer for the people you have lost carried there, write it in the form at the top of this page with their names. It is printed and placed in one of the chapels, a priest prays it in English, and a candle is lit on your behalf. Photographs of both are emailed to you.