DiNardo on rare reprieve from Lenten meat abstinence: 'It is well known that Saint Patrick's Day is a day of friendly social celebration for many American Catholics'

The leader of Texas’ largest Roman Catholic jurisdiction said that its more than 1.7 million adherents are permitted to consume meat on St. Patrick’s Day on Friday.

Daniel Cardinal DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston issued a decree in relation to the feast day of the ancient Irish bishop earlier this month.

“This year, the Memorial of Saint Patrick falls on Friday, March 17,” the 73-year-old DiNardo said in a statement that was released by the archdiocese. “It is well known that Saint Patrick's Day is a day of friendly social celebration for many American Catholics.”

Catholics older than the age of 14 are required to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent, a period of fasting, repentance and spiritual discipline observed by many Christians around the world in the six weeks leading up to Easter Sunday.

“I, therefore, decree that on Friday, March 17, 2023, all Catholics of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, no matter where they may be, and all other Catholics present in the Archdiocese on that day, are, by my authority, dispensed from the obligation to abstain from meat,” DiNardo said in the statement.

The cardinal added that while congregants aren’t required to “make use of this dispensation,” they’re encouraged to perform an extra act of charity or penance in exchange for the rare reprieve.

The last time Catholics were allowed to eat meat on a Lenten Friday was St. Patrick’s Day in 2017.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, St. Patrick was born to a wealthy family in Britain in the year 386 A.D.

When he was a teenager, pirates kidnapped him and took him to what’s now Ireland, where he was forced into slavery.

Patrick eventually escaped, but decided to return to Ireland to convert the people there to Christianity.

He was best known for demonstrating the Holy Trinity to a Pagan official by using a three-leaf shamrock, which became the national symbol of Ireland.

Patrick, who died on March 17, 465, was declared the patron saint of Ireland though the Catholic Church never actually canonized him, per the History Channel’s website.