Roman Catholic celebrations of St. Patrick's Day will come two days early to Ireland next year, church officials announced Wednesday, to avoid a conflict with the Holy Week that precedes an exceptionally early Easter.St. Patrick's Day is celebrated worldwide each March 17, reflecting the global diaspora of Irish emigrants.
But the church has decided to shift its 2008 feast day in honor of Ireland's patron saint to Saturday, March 15 _ the first time the date has been changed since 1940.
The next conflict is not expected until 2160.
Religious and government authorities were keen to stress that, while church services honoring St. Patrick would happen earlier than usual, this shouldn't make any difference to the secular festivities worldwide or to the fact that Monday, March 17, will remain an official Irish day off work.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the timing of any Irish holiday events would be altered by the church move.
Since the mid-1990s Dublin has dramatically expanded the holiday into a five-day festival designed to ensure that most St. Patrick's events, including the parade and riverside fireworks display, happen during a long weekend.
Church authorities spent weeks debating where to move its feast day celebrations of St. Patrick because March 17, 2008, is already reserved on the Catholic calendar as the second day of Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Easter.
Strict interpretation of church rules - called the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar - would require the St. Patrick's Day feast to be moved to the earliest date available after Easter, which in 2008 would be April 3.
But church officials said the Vatican approved the March 15 date in order to cause minimum conflict with civic events.
The Rev. Peter Jones, a priest on the church's Liturgy Commission in Ireland, said the church's feast in honor of St. Patrick «can't be observed on the Monday of Holy Week and therefore has to be transferred in accordance with the usual rules.
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