Since the early centuries of the church, the liturgical calendar has reserved one day to honour, collectively, all the saints, both those officially recognized and those known only to God. Thus we are reminded that the true company of Saints is far more numerous that the list of those who have been formally canonized.

This collective feast day, All Saints, is an occasion to acknowledge the varieties of holiness. Saints are not formed in any particular mould. Some are renowned for contemplation and others for action; some play a public role while others spent their lives in quiet obscurity. The Saints are not "super" human beings but those who realized the vocation for which all human beings were created and to which we are ultimately called. No one is called to be another "St. Ignatius" or "St. Theresa".  But there is a path to holiness that lies within our own life experiences. The feast of All Saints strengthens and encourages us to create the path by walking it.