All Saints’ Vigils Throughout the Province

For nearly twenty years, the friars at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC have been hosting an annual Vigil of All Saints on October 31st. More recently, Dominicans in other cities have begun to host their own Vigils. This year, All Saints’ Vigils will take place in New York, Maryland, and Connecticut in addition to the District of Columbia. These gatherings usually feature hymns, psalms, readings from the lives and writings of the saints, and candle-lit processions accompanied by the Litany of the Saints.

In Washington, DC at the Dominican House of Studies, the Vigil will focus on the Witness of the Martyrs. The evening will feature readings by or about St. Polycarp of Smyrna, St. Peter of Verona, O.P. (also known as St. Peter Martyr), St. Maria Goretti, and Bl. Stanley Rother (the recently beatified first martyr from the US). Br. Isaiah Beiter, O.P. will preach.

In New York City at the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena, the Vigil will feature readings by or about several saints of the modern world: Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Katharine Drexel, S.B.S., Venerable Solanus Casey, O.F.M. Cap., Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, and St. John Paul II. After each reading, musical settings of the Ave Maria from the time and place of each saint will be sung. Fr. Agustino, C.F.R. will preach at the Vigil.

In Baltimore, MD, the Vigil will take place at Sts. Philip and James University Parish.