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St. Patrick's Day and Upcoming
Liturgical Observances
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As Lent approaches, we
call your attention to the following excerpt from the April
2007 Newsletter
from the Bishops Committee on the Liturgy of the US Conference
of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that affects upcoming liturgical
celebrations:
In 2008, the traditional
date of Saint Patrick’s Day (March 17th) falls on
Monday of Holy Week. Therefore, the feast cannot be
commemorated liturgically.
In places where Saint
Patrick is the principal patron of a particular church (that
is, a diocese) it is, customarily, commemorated as a
solemnity. Because number 60 of the
General Norms for the
Liturgical Year and the Calendar allows that “a
solemnity impeded by a liturgical day that takes precedence
over it should be transferred to the closed day not listed in
nos. 1-8 in the table of precedence…” this solemnity may be
transferred to Friday March 14th. It might be
noted that, as previously announced in the
BCL Newsletter
(September, 2006) that Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments has established that in the year
2008, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph will be transferred from
the Wednesday of Holy Week to March 15th, that is
the Saturday preceding Palm Sunday. This decision impedes the
transfer of the solemnity of Saint Patrick to March 15th.
In the vast majority of
the dioceses of the USA, where the feast of Saint Patrick is
commemorated as a non-obligatory memorial, the feast will not
be commemorated liturgically in the year 2008.
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