St. Patrick's Day not observed liturgically in most of U.S. in '08

Published: 2008-02-20

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- This year St. Patrick's Day falls on the Monday of Holy Week and as a result "will not be commemorated liturgically" in most U.S. dioceses, according to the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Divine Worship. Last year the Irish bishops' conference requested and received permission from the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments to move the solemnity of St. Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, to the nearest Saturday, March 15, the day before Palm Sunday. But an earlier decision by the Vatican congregation to transfer the feast of St. Joseph this year from March 19, the Wednesday of Holy Week, to March 15 "impedes the transfer of the solemnity of St. Patrick to March 15" in the United States, according to an April 2007 article in the liturgy secretariat's newsletter. The feast day may be moved to Friday, March 14, in dioceses "where St. Patrick is the principal patron of a particular church" and where "it is customarily commemorated as a solemnity," it said. The U.S. bishops have not requested such a transfer as a conference, however.

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