March 14, 2008

St. Patrick's Day

Because of the vagaries of the liturgical year, today is St. Patrick's Day here in the archdiocese of New York. The 17th, Patrick's regular day, is going to be Monday of Holy Week, when feasts of saints are not to be celebrated. Of course there's no skipping it altogether, because Patrick is the titular saint of the archdiocese. So his day has to be moved. Tomorrow, Saturday the 15th, is already taken by St. Joseph, transferred back from Spy Wednesday. Joseph, of course, gets first choice. So today, Friday the 14th, is St. Patrick's Day, which also gives the Cardinal a good excuse to commute the Friday abstinence.

The City of New York, however, in its heathenism, is still having their parade on Monday.
at

2 comments:

  1. Barb Szyszkiewicz8:18 AM

    "Spy Wednesday" -- that's not a term I have ever heard before. Bet there's an interesting story there. Do you have more information?

    In our parish yesterday, we had daily Mass for the Friday in Lent, not St. Patrick. (diocese of Trenton, NJ)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brother Charles10:54 AM

    I first heard "Spy Wednesday" when I was working at St. Stephen of Hungary on 82nd St. in Manhattan. It cracked me up, so I kept using it. I presume it refers to the subterfuges of Judas.

    ReplyDelete

Faithful, or even just thoughtful criticisms are always welcome. Uninformed rudeness to other posters or to the Lord and His Church is not.

I also reserve the right to reject comments promoting things like private revelations and fringe points of view, if it seems to me like they are being presented in a misleading way.

If you raise a disagreement with something I say but I do not respond, please do not feel slighted or insulted, or imagine that this automatically means I disagree or agree with you. It's just that I don't find the comment box to be a constructive medium for certain forms of debate.