All Saints Day Excerpt: Early History of Memorials for Martyrs and Saints
From the earliest days of the Church, Christians venerated martyrs on the anniversary of their deaths by celebrating Mass on their tombs. Over the next few centuries relics began to be transferred between dioceses and memorials for several martyrs were celebrated in common. During the persecutions of Diocletian in the early 300s so many Christians were killed that it became impossible to create separate memorials for each so joint memorials be