St. Patrick vs. Holy Week

The complexities and intricacies of the liturgical calendar are making national news these days. A little less than a month before St. Patrick's Day, the national media (including an article on CNN.com) are covering the rare occurance of March 17 falling during Holy Week, which happens this year for the first time since 1940. The problem? According to the official Church table of liturgical celebrations, the days of Holy Week take precedence over anything else, including any saints whose feast day happens to fall in that week. Therefore, since St. Patrick's Day is also Monday of Holy Week, Holy Week takes precedence and St. Patrick's Day is not officially celebrated in most places this year. There are a few exceptions for areas that have a particular devotion to St. Patrick - in Ireland, the bishops petitioned the Vatican that St. Patrick's Day be allowed to be celebrated on the Saturday before Holy Week, March 15. A few individual bishops here in the United States have also moved liturgical celebrations of St. Patrick's Day because of great local devotion to the Irish saint. But for most of us, including here in Indiana, there will not be a church celebration of St. Patrick this year.

Of course, that doesn't mean that secular celebrations of St. Patrick will disappear - I'm sure there will be plenty of Irish celebrations regardless of what the liturgical calendar says. There are some bishops, however, who successfully petitioned local organizers of St. Patrick's Day festivities to move their celebrations out of Holy Week, out of respect for the solemnity of that week - Savannah, Georgia, is one example. The heart of the issue, however, is the question of the connection between a liturgical feast honoring an Irish bishop and a secular celebration of all things green. Do people celebrate St. Patrick's Day because of the saint, or because they are Irish (or want to be), or because it is an excuse for a party and a parade, or some combination? My guess is that most people won't even know that there will not be a liturgical celebration of St. Patrick this year.