Some Catholic bishops and archbishops granted dietary dispensations for St. Patrick's Day, which fell on a Friday during Lent this year.

Catholics generally are required to avoid meat on Fridays. But with a celebratory Friday, some dioceses made exceptions.

“I have issued a dispensation from the Lenten obligation to abstain from eating meat … Friday, March 17,” Brooklyn Bishop Robert Brennan said in a tweet before St. Patrick’s Day. “I am pleased to grant this dispensation for this Friday of Lent only, so that celebrations of St. Patrick can be fully enjoyed by the faithful of the @BrooklynDiocese.”

This is the first time in six years that St. Patrick’s Day has fallen on a Friday during Lent, NBC New York reported recently. But Brennan was not the only U.S. bishop to offer the exception. Green Bay Bishop David Ricken was another who did the same thing.

"To honor his work of making disciples of Jesus, and in accord with the norm of the law (Canon 1253), I grant to all Catholics of the Diocese of Green Bay a dispensation from abstinence from meat and meat products on the Feast of St. Patrick in the year of 2023,” Ricken said in his decree published by the diocese. "I further prescribe that those who make use of this dispensation engage in another sacrificial, penitential, spiritual, or charitable act that day, such as praying the Rosary for the intention of vocations, participating in the Stations of the Cross, making a Holy Hour, or donating the cost of the meal that day to the Rice Bowl initiative.”

The Feast of St. Patrick is observed every year on March 17, the day the patron saint of Ireland is reputed to have died. NBC New York noted that the event is well-recognized for its cultural significance, with celebrations including parades, parties and traditional Irish cuisine that features corned beef, cabbage and beer. The U.S. regards St. Patrick's Day as a significant occasion during which people usually wear green attire, and the City of Chicago even dyes the Chicago River green.