# Post Analysis: @robinmonotti's Allhallowtide series (Oct 31 – Nov 2, 2026) Back to [[Users/@robinmonotti/robinmonotti-x-profile|@robinmonotti profile]] · [[Users/@robinmonotti/Chronological List|Chronological List]] · [[Users/@robinmonotti/Topical List|Topical List]] > [!info] Why this one > His four newest original posts form one series on the three days of Allhallowtide. They are history claims (popes, dates, etymology, an icon, a painting) that can be checked. Not energy or climate, but the only checkable new material this run (the rest of his new posts were reposts, a one-word reply and a Telegram link). ## The posts | Time (CT) | Post | Metrics at collection | |---|---|---| | Oct 31, 3:07 AM | [All Hallows' Eve](https://x.com/robinmonotti/status/2116441933023171053) | 4,627 views · 42 likes · 12 reposts · 6 replies | | Oct 31, 3:08 AM | [self-reply: Saint John on Patmos](https://x.com/robinmonotti/status/2116442266009051618) | 759 views · 3 likes | | Nov 1, 2:14 AM | [All Saints Day: the British Isles icon](https://x.com/robinmonotti/status/2116805962639999154) | 2,596 views · 43 likes · 6 reposts | | Nov 2, 3:13 AM | [All Souls Day](https://x.com/robinmonotti/status/2117183256319627462) | 1,637 views · 14 likes · 2 reposts | **Key passages (verbatim):** > The name comes from Old English hallow (holy/saint) and Scots e'en (evening), meaning "the evening before the feast of all the saints." … The date was fixed in the 8th century, when Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica to all the saints, and Pope Gregory IV later extended the observance to the whole Western Church. > Saint John on Patmos, Limbourg brothers. The painting Saint John on Patmos (1416) depicts the communion of saints, a Christian theological concept teaching the union of the members of the Church > It was originally painted by Archimandrite David (Mark Meyrick) of Walsingham and later revised to correct omissions and improve geographical ordering. The icon depicts 120 figures, including Christ, the Theotokos, and 110 local saints… > The observance is attributed to St. Odilo of Cluny (c. 961–1049)… who around 998 AD ordered all monasteries under Cluny's authority to set aside 2 November for prayer, fasting, and Mass for the dead. The practice spread through the Cluniac network, then to other Benedictine houses, and became universal in the Western Church by the end of the 13th century. ## Claim-by-claim check | # | Claim | Verdict | Evidence | |---|---|---|---| | 1 | Allhallowtide = Oct 31 – Nov 2 | ✅ | Britannica: "the three-day triduum—sometimes known as Allhallowtide". | | 2 | Etymology: hallow + Scots e'en | ✅ | Halloween is "a Scottish shortening of All Hallowen… 'the evening before All-Hallows'", from *hallow* "holy person, saint" ([Etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/Halloween)). Strictly, *hallow* came into Middle English from Old English *halga*; minor. | | 3 | Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St Peter's to all the saints; the date was fixed then | ✅ | "The first evidence for the November 1 date… occurred during the reign of Pope Gregory III (731–741), who dedicated a chapel in St. Peter's, Rome, on November 1 in honor of all saints" ([Britannica](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/All-Saints-Day/5766)). | | 4 | Gregory IV extended it to the whole Western Church | ✅ | "In 837 Pope Gregory IV ordered its general observance" (Britannica). | | 5 | Limbourg brothers' *Saint John on Patmos* (1416) "depicts the communion of saints" | 🟡 Interpretive | It is folio 17r of the *Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry*, c. 1413–16, Musée Condé, Chantilly. It shows John on Patmos receiving the Revelation, with Christ above and the twenty-four elders ([ArtBible](https://www.artbible.info/art/large/377.html)). "Communion of saints" is a reading of the heavenly court, not the subject. "1416" is the end of a date range. | | 6 | Icon of All Saints of the British Isles by Archimandrite David (Mark Meyrick) of Walsingham | ✅ | "In 1978, Metropolitan Anthony commissioned Fr. David to create a large icon of All Saints of the British Isles, which now hangs in the patriarchal Russian Orthodox cathedral in Kensington, London" ([OrthoChristian](https://orthochristian.com/170846.html)). He was still "Fr. Mark" in 1978; he was tonsured "David" in 1980. | | 7 | "120 figures… 110 local saints"; "later revised" | ⚠️ Unconfirmed | The count and the revision could not be checked (the orthodoxengland.org.uk key to the icon did not load). | | 8 | Saints "before the Great Schism of 1054" | ✅ (as the icon's theme) | This is the standard Orthodox framing of the pre-Schism saints of Britain ⚠️ (theme stated by Orthodox sources; icon key not read). | | 9 | Catholic teaching on purgatory; prayers, almsgiving and Mass help the dead | ✅ | It closely tracks the *Catholic Encyclopedia*: the faithful "can help them by prayers, almsdeeds and especially by the sacrifice of the Mass" ([New Advent](https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01315b.htm)). | | 10 | Odilo of Cluny (c. 961–1049) set 2 November "around 998" | 🟡 Traditional date, disputed | 998 is the traditional date. A study of Cluny dates the feast's introduction "between 1024 and 1033 by the powerful Abbot Odilo" (Moore 2003, [Studies in Religion](https://doi.org/10.1177/000842980303200406)). Odilo's dates are given variously: 962–c. 1048 (Moore); "d. 1048" (Catholic Encyclopedia). | | 11 | Spread through Cluny, then Benedictines; "universal… by the end of the 13th century" | 🟡 Broadly right | The *Catholic Encyclopedia* traces the spread to Benedictines, Carthusians, Liège (before 1008) and Besançon. Milan kept it on **15 October** in the 1120s, so dates were not uniform at first. Encyclopedia sources put its arrival in Rome in the 13th century ⚠️ (secondary). | ## Overall verdict ✅ **Accurate devotional history**, with two soft spots: the 998 date for Odilo is traditional rather than secure, and the Limbourg miniature is a Revelation scene that he reads as the communion of saints. The icon's figure counts are unconfirmed ⚠️. ## What's left out - The pre-Christian Samhain link that popular Halloween history stresses, and that historians debate. He frames the season purely as Christian, which suits his feast-day posting ⚠️ (debate not researched). - That the Eastern churches keep All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost, not 1 November (Britannica). This matters for an *Orthodox* icon posted on 1 November. ## People involved - **Pope Gregory III** (731–741) and **Pope Gregory IV** (827–844). - **St Odilo of Cluny**: fifth abbot of Cluny. - **Archimandrite David (Mark Meyrick) of Walsingham** (1930–1993): Orthodox priest and iconographer. - **The Limbourg brothers** (Paul, Herman and Johan): Netherlandish illuminators for Jean, Duc de Berry. ## Replies and quotes Not read (free-tier limits) ⚠️.