Gaining salvation for the departed

CEMETERY VIGIL Illuminated only by candles, families start an overnight vigil near the place where their departed loved ones are buried on the eve of All Saints’ Day at Navotas City Public Cemetery. —RAFFY LERMA

Visiting your departed loved ones at the cemetery on All Souls’ Day is not only an occasion to remember them—it is also a way of reducing punishment for the dead’s sins.

A Catholic priest said praying for the dead and visiting cemeteries on Nov. 2 is a way for the departed to gain indulgence.

Fr. Roy Bellen, head of the Archdiocese of Manila’s Archdiocesan Office of Communications, explained that Catholics who prayed for the dead could obtain indulgences for souls in purgatory.

“Part of the Church’s teachings, when you pray for the dead and go to the cemetery, you actually gain indulgence. There’s indulgence when you pray for the person who died,” he said.

Although All Souls’ Day is commemorated on Nov. 2, Filipinos have made it a tradition to go to cemeteries and visit their dead on Nov. 1, All Saints’ Day.

An indulgence may reduce the penance required after a sin has been forgiven, or the purification process after death or purgatory.

Another way of praying for the dead is offering Mass, which the Church considers the highest form of prayer.