The Church has always respected the early witnesses, or martyrs, who died for their Christian faith. They were faithful to Christ and did not give Him up, even to save their lives or the lives of their families.

The early history of the Church has many stories about the faith of these martyrs. They were rather like heroes and their stories have been good examples for all Christians throughout history.

The Church later canonised many of those holy people whose names and stories were known. This meant that the Church formally recognised that the life of that person was holy, an example for all of us, and he or she made a saint. The Church's calendar contains many saint's days which we, as Christians, celebrate.

However, there were thousands more early Christian martyrs who are not known (except to God). In order to honour the memory of these unnamed saints, the Church dedicated a special feast day. This feast that we now know as All Saints' Day started out as a feast of All Martyrs in the 4th century. Sometime between 731 and 741, Pope Gregory III consecrated a chapel in the basilica of St. Peter to all saints (not just to the martyrs) on November 1st, and he fixed the anniversary of this dedication as the date of the feast.

The vigil of this important feast was called All Saints' Eve or Hallowe'en. All Souls' Day, on November 2nd, commemorates the faithful departed. This is a day of remembrance for friends and loved ones who have passed away and purposely follows All Saints' Day in order to shift the focus from the saints to ordinary people.