Feast of St. Joseph - Meat or No Meat

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Today is the Solemnity of St. Joseph. I’ve heard that it’s a feast day and we are to celebrate and it is permissible to eat meat - I’ve also heard the contrary. Does anyone know where to find this?
 
Yes you can eat meat as a solemnity overrides a penitential day.

I hope people use the day to honour the most holy Guardian of our Lord rather than use it to indulge in some meat eating though.

😃
 
Both Ed Peters (who is a specialist on canon law) and Jimmy Akins have noted in their blogs that by canon law, we may eat meat today because a Solemnity (St. Joseph, Mar. 19, is a Solemnity) will ‘supersede’ the normal Lenten Friday abstinence requirement.

So go ahead and eat your meat if you CHOOSE. Don’t feel guilty.
If you wish to abstain as an ‘extra’ penance, go ahead as well, but don’t feel that you are ‘better’ than your friend who is eating the meat since he has ‘permission.’
 
Yes.

From Ed Peter’s web site: That the general law of abstinence from meat on Fridays (c. 1251) does not bind on “solemnities” (like the Solemnity of St. Joseph, per c. 1246.1 and the Gen. Norms for the Lit. Year and Calendar) is so obvious that few commentaries bother to say “If the Solemnity of St. Joseph falls on a Friday, even in Lent, one need not abstain from meat.” Nevertheless, the exemption from abstinence on solemnities is patent, and one need not bother pastors or bishops for a dispensation before enjoying a pepperoni pizza this Friday. Nuf said.

Now, for my fellow canon law geeks, let me add something really cool. The revised law is not only clear in itself, but reflects two significant changes from the discipline of the 1917 Code.

First, whereas the 1917 Code exempted Lenten Fridays from the exemption associated with certain holy days (1917 CIC 1252.4), this “exemption-from-the-exemption” does not appear in the revised law, meaning that solemnities trump even Lenten Fridays (pace Good Friday, of course).

Second, whereas the 1917 Code spoke in terms of “feasts of precept” as generally exempting one from the law of abstinence, the 1983 Code speaks in terms of “solemnities”, thus obviating thorny questions about what to do if a given “solemnity” were not observed as a “day of precept” here or there. Today, the designation of a liturgical day as a “solemnity” suffices to occasion the exemption from abstinence, regardless of whether the solemnity is treated as a holy day of obligation. By the way, this explains why dispensations are sometimes sought to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day when it falls on a Friday in Lent, for St. Paddy’s t’aint’a solemnity, don’tchaknow.

So, this Friday, feel free to enjoy spaghetti and meat balls,
 
gunnerz said:
Does anyone know the canon law on this?
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Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

EDIT: Man you all type fast…lol
 
It was even announced at Masses this past weekend, a message from the Bishop, that eating meat was permitted today.
 
I’m grateful for the precise and authoritative info posted here. Thank you.
The actual point, though, comes down to common sense – which the Catholic Church has always had plenty of. “You can’t have a fast and a feast on the same day”. Here in Ireland it’s generally accepted that the Lenten Observance is suspended for S. Pat’s day (17th March) although many who have given up the Demon Drink for Lent will not relax for S. Paddy’s Day, knowing well they’d never get back on the Wagon again afterwards.

With respect, I can’t agree with the comment that we can celebrate S. Joseph’s, day, but not revert to meat. “It was only right that we should make merry” (Lk 15:32).

I have heard that it is Providential that the Annunciation (25th March) comes usually during Lent. The symbolism is worth meditating upon. When 25th March is also Good Friday, however it is designated a Jubilee Year, and many indulgences and blessings are granted on that day.
 
We actually had dinner WITH a Canon Lawyer that night and we all had lovely steak and pasta meals! 👍 And thanked St. Joseph for the respite from Lent.

~Liza
 
lizaanne said:
We actually had dinner WITH a Canon Lawyer that night and we all had lovely steak and pasta meals! 👍 And thanked St. Joseph for the respite from Lent.

~Liza
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What respite? You Latins realy crack me up. You have what 6 or 7 Fridays that you abstain from meat…and your looking for a respite? Total lack of appreciation for the BENEFITS of fasting and abstinence. In the East meat is NEVER allowed during lent, not on Annunciation,
or even Palm Sunday. I dont get you westerners, all this talk of wanting the old mass and Latin and all that…how about fast days and ember days and some of the other penitential practices you have thrown out the window. Respite for St. Joseph…what a crack up!!🤷
 
ciero said:
What respite? You Latins realy crack me up. You have what 6 or 7 Fridays that you abstain from meat…and your looking for a respite? Total lack of appreciation for the BENEFITS of fasting and abstinence. In the East meat is NEVER allowed during lent, not on Annunciation,
or even Palm Sunday. I dont get you westerners, all this talk of wanting the old mass and Latin and all that…how about fast days and ember days and some of the other penitential practices you have thrown out the window. Respite for St. Joseph…what a crack up!!🤷
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YOU are being obnoxious and completely out of line.

I make a casual comment about celebrating the Feast Day, and you come to all of these conclusions based on that one statement!!!

Total lack of appreciation for fasting and abstinence? You have no idea - and are sounding like an arrogant and holier than thou bigot.

I’m not going to defend my comment or our actions - not to someone who already has a picture clearly painted of what sort of “Latins” we must be. :rolleyes:

Dang. :mad:

~Liza
 
lizaanne said:
YOU are being obnoxious and completely out of line.

I make a casual comment about celebrating the Feast Day, and you come to all of these conclusions based on that one statement!!!

Total lack of appreciation for fasting and abstinence? You have no idea - and are sounding like an arrogant and holier than thou bigot.

I’m not going to defend my comment or our actions - not to someone who already has a picture clearly painted of what sort of “Latins” we must be. :rolleyes:

Dang. :mad:

~Liza
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Why ask the question then? You were not the only one asking the question. Another poster made a big deal about eating out with a canon lawyer and eating steak because it was St. Joseph’s day…is this realy a Christian way of “celebrating” St. Joseph’s day? It reaks of LEGALISM!🤷 Go figure.
 
ciero said:
What respite? You Latins realy crack me up. You have what 6 or 7 Fridays that you abstain from meat…and your looking for a respite? Total lack of appreciation for the BENEFITS of fasting and abstinence. In the East meat is NEVER allowed during lent, not on Annunciation,
or even Palm Sunday. I dont get you westerners, all this talk of wanting the old mass and Latin and all that…how about fast days and ember days and some of the other penitential practices you have thrown out the window. Respite for St. Joseph…what a crack up!!🤷
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I don’t think that’s universal in the East: the Syriac tradition, for one, has certain exceptions (Saturdays & Sundays in Lent, and depending on the Particular Church, St Joseph, Annunciation, and perhaps one or two more days) to the normal rules of fasting (and “abstinence” since both are considered under the same heading). The technicalities of fasting rules differ a bit from Church to Church, but in general, a valid argument can be made that fasting rules do not apply on the days mentioned. That’s not to say that the faithful are encouraged to gorge themselves on meat and dairy, but the above argument suggests that it is permissible to take one such meal after mid-day. I’ll add that the fasting rules in the various Syriac Churches are (traditionally, at least) as rigorous, if not more so, than those in either the Byzantine East or Latin West. But of course, the fasting rules never apply to the very young, the aged, or the infirm.
 
ciero said:
Why ask the question then? You were not the only one asking the question. Another poster made a big deal about eating out with a canon lawyer and eating steak because it was St. Joseph’s day…is this realy a Christian way of “celebrating” St. Joseph’s day? It reaks of LEGALISM!🤷 Go figure.
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I didn’t ask any question - did you bother to read the thread? And I AM the person who had dinner with a canon lawyer, and in roughly two dozen words you think I made a “big deal” out it? Did anyone here say that this is the ONLY way to observe the feast day?

A member asked a question. Many of us answered it - in various ways.

You sure do jump easily to conclusions. Dude - this is an internet message forum. You are not reading the deepest most intimate details of a person’s spiritual life here, so how can you think you can assume as much as you do based on very simple comments? Get over yourself.

~Liza
 
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