Saint Patrick
Diocese of Raleigh/ Friday Meat Abstinence Dispensation on St. Patrick's Day
Canon 1250 of the Code of Canon Law states that Fridays of Lent are penitential days, which require abstinence from meat for all who have completed their fourteenth year. Bishops may dispense of this Friday obligation during Lent, especially when “certain feasts occur which the liturgy or local custom traditionally exempts from the Lenten spirit of penance” (NCCB, Statement, n. 16). Because the Memorial of Saint Patrick is a common celebratory day in the United States and locally, Bishop Zarama has granted a dispensation that states that on Friday, March 17, 2023, all Catholics of the Diocese of Raleigh are dispensed from the obligation to abstain from meat.
Therefore, this year, on the Feast of St. Patrick, March 17, which falls on the fourth Friday of Lent, Catholics in the Diocese of Raleigh can partake in customary and traditional meat dishes to celebrate with family and friends.
Prayer to Saint Patrick
O great Apostle of Ireland, glorious
St. Patrick, to whom under God, so
many are indebted for the most
precious of all treasures, the great gift
of Faith, receive our fervent thanks
for the zeal and charity which have
been to thousands the source of
blessings so invaluable. Ask for all
who dwell in this land and the land of
thy labors, the precious light of Faith,
and beg for us on whom its glorious
rays have long since beamed, the grace
to regulate our lives by its sacred maxims.
Amen.