A devotional practice bound to the liturgy of All Saints and of the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed on 2 November, and to November as the month of the holy souls. What is done is very simple — a visit, a prayer for the dead — but the Church's grant is precise: the plenary indulgence gained in these days may be applied only to the departed, never to oneself. Praying for the dead is a work of mercy and rests on the Church's faith in the communion of saints, not on any claim to know the state of a particular soul.

On each day from 1 to 8 November, visit a cemetery and pray for the dead, if only in your own mind, at the graves; on the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, visit a church or oratory and there pray the Our Father and the Creed. For the plenary indulgence, which is applicable only to the souls in purgatory, add the usual conditions: sacramental confession, Holy Communion on each day the indulgence is sought, and prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father, with the heart detached from all affection for sin. A plenary indulgence may be gained only once a day. Bring the names of your own dead with you and say them aloud, and have Masses offered for them, which remains the greatest help the Church can give them.

Citation

Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th ed. (Apostolic Penitentiary, 1999), grants for the faithful departed: a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory, for devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying, even mentally, for the dead on each day from 1 to 8 November, and for devoutly visiting a church or oratory on the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed and there praying the Our Father and the Creed; a partial indulgence for a cemetery visit on other days of the year. The usual conditions apply, and a plenary indulgence may be gained only once a day. The governing norms are those of Paul VI, Indulgentiarum Doctrina (1967).

general