This may be the quietest St Patrick’s Day for many young people as they face a 17 March without a parade in Dublin.

Mary Kenny, writing in The Catholic Herald, suggests that “maybe it’s no bad thing, if St Patrick’s Day is a little more focused on Patrick himself, and a little less on pints of Guinness and silly hats saying ‘Kiss me, I’m Irish!’”

Within living memory St Patrick’s Day was quiet with all pubs closed. It was a little like an old fashioned Christmas Day: Mass in the morning followed by a family lunch and a snooze. A big day off.

This year we might have a moment to remember that it is also St Joseph of Arimathea’s Day.

Did he come to Glastonbury with teenage Jesus? Did he supply the cup for the Last Supper? He did look after Christ’s body after his crucifixion. This is what confronts us in Holy Week early next month.