Volume 10 , Issue 11

St. Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day is a holiday honoring Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is celebrated on March 17, his feast day. In Newfoundland and Labrador, St. Patrick's Day is a provincial holiday observed on the Monday closest to March 17. Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: L' 'le P'draig or L' Fh'ile P'draig), colloquially St. Paddy's Day or Paddy's Day, is an annual feast day which celebrates Saint Patrick (circa 385-461 AD).

Wikipedia states, "The day is the national holiday of Ireland. It is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland, and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Montserrat, and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In the rest of Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and New Zealand, it is widely celebrated but is not an official holiday.

"It became a feast day in the Roman Catholic Church due to the influence of the Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding in the early part of the 17th century, and is a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland. The date of the feast is occasionally moved by church authorities when March 17 falls during Holy Week; this happened in 1940 when Saint Patrick's Day was observed on 3 April in order to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday, and is happening again in 2008, being observed on 15 March (though the State holiday in Ireland is not affected). March 17 will not fall during Holy Week again until 2160."
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