Allsaintstide and Remembrance

2 November - All Souls’ Day

• 7:30pm Sung Requiem Mass

A Requiem Mass to remember and pray for the soul of all those whom we have loved and lost. The service is followed by refreshments.
Preacher: Canon Peter Stannard
 
4 November - All Saints’ Sunday

•  10:00am Parish Mass and Confirmations

Celebrant and Preacher: Bishop Alan Smith, Lord Bishop of St Albans.
This service is followed by a bring-and-share lunch at church.

11 November - Remembrance Sunday

•  9:45am Sung Requiem Mass

A service of remembrance and prayer for all fallen service personnel followed by a procession to the Green and the 11:00am Act of Remembrance at the Memorial Stone.
This service is followed by refreshments at the Memorial Hall.

•  2:30pm Quarter Peal from the bell tower

A quarter peal will be rung to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. The bells will ring joyously for approximately 45 minutes.

•  3:00pm Traditional Afternoon Tea

 Join us for a proper afternoon tea to celebrate the centenary of the end of the First World War. Tickets are £15. The will also be a raffle in aid of the British Legion.

The days surrounding the Feast of All Saints (1 November), traditionally called Allsaintstide, are very important ones in our parish. During this time we celebrate our patronal festival – the dedication of the Parish Church to all the saints who ever lived and now rejoice in heaven in the presence of God.
At All Saints' we usually transfer this important celebration to the Sunday either preceding or following 1 November. This year we will celebrate it on Sunday 4 November as "All Saints' Sunday".

While many people think of the saints as (sometimes unreachable) examples of ‘virtuous and godly living’, this hardly does justice to the biblical insight that in our pilgrimage through this world ‘we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses’ (Hebrews 12:1). Sanctity is not about hero-worship as about accessibility; the saints are the real men and women of every age in whose lives we can glimpse heaven in our midst. They are our partners in prayer:
Before thy throne we daily meet
As joint-petitioners to thee;
In spirit each the other greet,
And shall again each other see.
                 - Richard Baxter

After All Saints' Sunday we remember, and pray for, all our loved ones who have died on All Souls’ Day (2 November), and we pray for all the war dead on Remembrance Sunday.