In the early Church, All Saints’ Day celebrated martyrs, and later, after the persecutions of early Christians had ended, it celebrated everyone who lived a good and holy life, said Father Michael Van Sloun, addressing the history of the feast day.
On Nov. 1, the Church lifts up the saints and says, “Look at these holy people. They were able … to take the commands of Jesus in the Gospel to put them into practice in their daily life,” he said.
Father Michael Van Sloun
“So … when we look at those saints, we want to say, ‘If they could do it, I can do it. If they can live a good and holy life, I can live a good and holy life.’ We believe that they’ve gone to heaven, and that is my hope that, in the future, I’ll be able to join them in heaven.”
Recently retired and a former pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata, Father Van Sloun joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley to talk about All Saints’ Day. He recalled a favorite memory of serving two parishes with grade schools — St. Bartholomew and St. Stephen in Anoka — when on All Saints’ Day, about six to 10 students dressed up as saints for Mass. Instead of a homily, the children took turns describing the lives of the saints they represented.
“I had students from 20 years ago come back and say, ‘Father, I remember the day on November 1 when I dressed up as so and so,’ and they can tell you the story,” he said. “It’s implanted in their memory forever.”
With no store selling saint costumes, making one became a family project, Father Van Sloun said. While doing so, mom and dad and the child could discuss that saint, he said, “so they’re all learning about the saint together.”
And the parents were very proud of their children at that Mass, Father Van Sloun said. “It’s really a remarkable thing.”
Father Van Sloun said St. Anthony of Padua is one of his favorite saints. Early in his life, St. Anthony was “just a minister to a group of people in a secluded area,” he said. After morning Mass, “they didn’t have anything else for him to do,” so St. Anthony spent much of his day studying Scripture, Father Van Sloun said. “And I love Scripture, and it enabled him to be a great preacher. And hopefully I can take my gifts and preach as well as he can.”
Father Van Sloun’s mother had a great devotion to St. Francis of Assisi because she went to St. Francis High School in Little Falls, he said, and she also had a great devotion to St. Maximilian Kolbe. Father Van Sloun has “a little chapel” in his home where he displays images of the three saints in a triptych-type presentation to honor them.
To learn the name of the 12-volume book about saints that Father Van Sloun uses — not only with the main saint for each day, but often three to five others — and to hear the full interview, listen to this episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show. It airs at 9 p.m. Oct. 29, 1 p.m. Oct. 30 and 2 p.m. Oct. 31 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who reflects on his time in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before his installation as the bishop of Crookston Dec. 6, and Father Kyle Kowalczyk and Angela Cahill, who preview Missed the Boat Theatre’s latest offering, “Moonshine Abbey: A Musical.”
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired at:
soundcloud.com/PracticingCatholic
tinyurl.com/PracticingCatholic?(Spotify)
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