By Catholic Philly staff • Posted March 8, 2023

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez will serve as the principal celebrant and homilist at the Saint Patrick’s Day Commemorative Mass on Sunday, March 12 at Saint Patrick Parish located at 20th and Locust Streets in Philadelphia. Father Kevin Gallagher, Pastor of Saint Denis Parish in Havertown and Parade Chaplain, will concelebrate the Mass.

Beginning at 9:15 a.m., the Philadelphia Emerald Society Pipe Band and Bishop Shanahan High School Choir will lead a procession from Saint Patrick Parish Rectory to the Church as a prelude to the Mass.

Following the Mass, Father Gallagher will join marchers in Philadelphia’s 251st Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.

The theme for this year’s parade is Saint Patrick, Let There be Peace.

This year, the Memorial of Saint Patrick (March 17th) falls on a Friday during the Season of Lent.

In a Feb. 23 announcement, Archbishop Pérez granted dispensation to all Catholics in the Philadelphia archdiocese from the obligation to abstain from meat on Friday, March 17, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

>>READ MORE: Archbishop grants Phila. Catholics dispensation on St. Patrick’s Day, meat can go on the table

For more information about the parade and the Saint Patrick’s Day Observance Association, please visit www.philadelphiastpatsparade.com.