Altar servers process into the 2023 St. Patrick Day Commemorative Mass.

Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez will serve as the principal celebrant and homilist at the Saint Patrick’s Day Commemorative Mass on Sunday, March 16 prior to the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in center city Philadelphia. Father Kevin Gallagher, parade chaplain and pastor of Saint Denis Parish in Havertown (Delaware County), will concelebrate.

Prior to the Mass the Philadelphia Emerald Society Pipe Band will lead a procession into the church. The Bishop Shanahan High School Choir and cantor Karen Boyce McCollum will provide music. Following Mass, Father Gallagher will join marchers at 11:00 a.m. in the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, which has been held for more than 250 years in the city.

With a new route this year, the parade will start at 16th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard, proceed west on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and end at Eakins Oval at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The Grand Marshall for the 2025 parade is Paddy Rooney and the theme is “Saint Patrick, Bless Those Dedicated to Serving Others.”

For more information about the Philadelphia Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, please visit PhillyParade.com.