Around the world today, many communities and nations are celebrating all things Irish. What’s the reason? Well, it’s 17th March, so it’s St Patrick’s Day. Now my ecclesiastically-minded friends will jump in and remind me that it is also the Second Sunday in Lent, so it can’t be St Patrick’s Day, well not liturgically anyway. But, there is not really any way to tell the millions of people the globe over who celebrate this day, that they ought to be waiting until tomorrow.

This problem happens periodically when 17th March falls on a Sunday. It’s always going to be during Lent. So, it’s great to have another day off the Lenten Fast. Sundays aren’t included anyway, so this year, it seems that many people will be thinking they actually have 40 days in Lent in Ireland, and not our usual 39.

But should it be only that many? On 19th March, it is the Feast of St Joseph and only six days later, it is the Feast of the Annuncication on 25th March. Both those feasts are Solemnities, so presumably we can be allowed off our Lenten Fast on them too.

The Feast of the Annunciation does not always fall in Lent, but it does quite regularly. It is possible for 25th March to be after Easter, as

In Western Christianity, using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April, inclusive, within about seven days after the astronomical full moon.

Wikipedia contributors, “Easter,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Easter&oldid=887546946 (accessed March 17, 2019).

But, when Easter Day falls earlier than 25th March, that brings even more confusion to the Feast days, as this will make both St Patrick and St Joseph fall in Holy Week, which cannot be. Therefore, they will be transferred to the next available day. It can’t be a day in Easter Week either, so that can delay them to the Monday after Low Sunday (Sunday of Divine Mercy). That is, always assuming that there are no other feast days that day. The Annunciation would also be celebrated around then too as it also cannot fall in Easter Week.

There are other possibilities too, like Good Friday being 25th March, as happened in 2016. The Annunciation was delayed until 4th April.

When Easter is late in the year other problems occur. Like, when does one celebrate the Feast of St George (usually 23rd April)?

I suspect that there are very few people who acknowledge all these difficulties, and sometimes I wonder why there are feast days that fall at this time of year. Perhaps it is to allow those of us who enjoy this sort of liturgical top trumps game to have fun working it all out, or to allow those who want to have some time off the Lenten Fast to get it.