Many people claim that the Sabbath was not really changed by the Catholic church, but by the resurrection day, or by the disciples breaking bread, or the Roman civil authorities. but not by the Catholic church.
But can we find in history where the Catholic church itself by the Pope, did change the Sabbath. Well it appears we can, take a look at something I came across
by Michael Scheifler ...
Pope Sylvester I (314-335 A.D.)
Decrees the Transfer of Sabbath Rest to Sunday:
Rabanus Maurus (776-856), abbot of Fulda and later archbishop of Mainz, Germany, was rated one of the greatest theologians of his age and probably the most cultured man of his time, and exceptionally learned in patristics. Besides, he was a zealous defender of the papacy and its teachings. In one of his works, he says,
Pope Sylvester instructed the clergy to keep the feriae. And, indeed, from an old custom he called the first day [of the week] the "Lord's [day]," on which the light was made in the beginning and also the resurrection of Christ is celebrated.6
Rabanus Maurus does not mean to say that Sylvester was the first man who referred to the days of the week as feriae or who first started the observance of Sunday among Christians. He means that, according to the testimony of Roman Catholic writers, Sylvester confirmed those practices and made them official insofar as his church was concerned. Hence Rabanus says elsewhere in his writings:
Pope Sylvester first among the Romans ordered that the names of the days [of the week], which they previously called after the name of their gods, that is, [the day] of the Sun, [the day] of the Moon, [the day] of Mars, [the day] of Mercury, [the day] of Jupiter, [the day] of Venus, [the day] of Saturn, they should call feriae thereafter, that is the first feria, the second feria, the third feria, the fourth feria, the fifth feria, the sixth feria, because that in the beginning of Genesis it is written that God said concerning each day: on the first, "Let there be light:; on the second, "Let there be a firmament"; on the third, "Let the earth bring forth verdure"; etc. But he [Sylvester] ordered [them] to call the Sabbath by the ancient term of the law, [to call] the first feria the "Lord's day," because on it the Lord rose [from the dead], Moreover, the same pope decreed that the rest of the Sabbath should be transferred rather to the Lord's day [Sunday], in order that on that day we should rest from worldly works for the praise of God.7
Note particularly, he says that "the same pope [Sylvester I] decreed that the rest of the Sabbath should be transferred rather to the Lord's day [Sunday]."8 According to this statement, he was the first bishop to introduce the idea that the divinely appointed rest of the Sabbath day should be transferred to the first day of the week. This is significant, especially in view of the fact that it was during Sylvester's pontificate that the emperor of Rome [Constantine] issued the first civil laws compelling men to rest from secular labor on Sunday, and that Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, was the first theologian on record to present arguments, allegedly from the Scriptures, that Christ did transfer the rest of the Sabbath day to Sunday.
6 Rabanus Maurus, Liber de Computo (A book Concerning Computation), Chap. XXVII ("Concerning Festivals"), as translated by the writer from the Latin text in Migne's Patrologia Latina, Vol. CVII, col. 682.
7 ------------, De Clericorum Institutione (Concerning the Instruction of the Clergymen), Book II, Chap. XLVI, as translated by the writer from the Latin text in Migne's Patrologia Latina, Vol. CVII, col. 361.
8 The wording in the Latin text reads: "Statuit autem idem papa ut otium Sabbati magis in diem Dominicam transferretur, ut ea die a terrenis operibus ad laudandum Deum vacaremus."
Source: Sabbath and Sunday in Early Christianity, by Robert L. Odom, © 1977 by the Review and Herald Publishing Association (An Adventist publishing house), pages 247-248.
See also: Sunday In Roman Paganism, by Robert Leo Odom, Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1944, pages 196-198.
Now the above quotes are, as noted, from Migne's Patrologia Latina (MPL), a well known scholarly compilation of the writings of Latin Fathers, a work of 221 volumes, which is now freely available online.
Brepols Publishers have recently reprinted Migne's Patrologia Latina, and Volume 107 (quoted from above) can be purchased individually for about $105.00 (91.00 Euros).
De Clericorum Institutione by Rabanus Maurus was published in 1900 in Munich by Dr. Aloisius Knoepfler and is online at Google Books. The text (in Latin) on page 154 from book 2, chapter 46, regarding the transfer of the Sabbath rest to Sunday by Pope Sylvester I. The relevant pages in .gif format: Title page & 152 - Pages 153 & 154.
Pope Benedict XVI praised Rabanus Maurus as a "great 'man of the church' " in his general audience of June 3, 2009.
Week, Names of Days, Decreed Changed by Pope Sylvester (314–335) From Name of Gods
Source: Rabanus Maurus, De Clericorum Institutione (On the Institution of the Clergy), bk. 2, chap. 46, in MPL, Vol. 107, col. 361. Trans. from the Latin by Frank H. Yost. Used by permission of Mrs. Frank H. Yost.
Sylvester the pope first among the Romans ordered that the names of the days, which before they called according to the names of their own gods, that is (the day) of the sun, of the moon, of Mars, of Mercury, of Venus, of Saturn, they should call feria (day of celebration), that is, first feria, second feria, third feria, fourth feria, fifth feria, sixth feria, because in the beginning of Genesis it is written that God had said for each day: first, "Let there be light"; second, "Let there be the firmament"; third, "Let the earth produce living plants", etc. But the Sabbath he commanded they call by the ancient name of the law, and the first feria the Lord’s day, because the Lord rose on that day. Moreover the same pope ordered that the rest (otium) of the Sabbath would better be transferred to the Lord’s day, so that we should leave that day free of worldly works in order to praise God.
Source: Bible Student's Source Book (Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 9), edited by Don F. Neufeld and Julia Neuffer, published and © 1962 by the Review and Herald Publishing Association (An Adventist publishing house), Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 62-9139, entry #1765, page 1078.
The decree by Pope Sylvester I to call the days of the week feria was issued in the year 316 A.D. according to Medii ævi Kalendarium Or, Dates, Charters, and Customs of the Middle Ages, Volume Two, by Robert Thomas Hampson, published in London by H. K. Causten, 1841, entry on Day, page 66, and Feria, pages 137, 138.
Bede, the noted English monk and ecclesiastical writer (672-735 A.D.), repeatedly declares that Sylvester attempted to change the pagan names of the days of the week. He says: "But the holy Sylvester ordered them to be called feriae, calling the first day the 'Lord's [day]: imitating the Hebrews, who named [them] the first of the week, the second of the week. and so on the others." 12
Bede says also in another work: "Question: Who first taught to observe feriae? Answer: Pope Sylvester instructed the clergy to observe feriae, to whom, resting only to God, it was allowed to engage in no military service or worldly business. ... And indeed because light in the beginning was made on the first day, and the resurrection of Christ [being] celebrated [on it], he called [it] the Lord's [day].' " 13
11 ...
12 Bede, De Temporibus, chap. 4, in J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, Vol 90, col. 281, author's translation. See also Bede, De Divisionibus, chap. 10; De Temporum Ratione, chap. 8, in J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, Vol 90, cols 657, 658, 326-332.
13 Bede, De Ratione Computi, chap. 5, in J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina, Vol 90, col. 584, author's translation.
Source: Sunday in Roman Paganism, by Robert Leo Odom, Chapter 14, Sylvester and the Days of the Week, page 197, Copyright © 2003 TEACH Services, Inc. ISBN 1-57258-242-1, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 2002111504.
Now we see in light of history that the SOP is more sure, in what is found in the following:
I saw that the Sabbath commandment was not nailed to the cross. If it was, the other nine commandments were; and we are at liberty to break them all, as well as to break the fourth. I saw that God had not changed the Sabbath, for He never changes. But the pope had changed it from the seventh to the first day of the week; for he was to change times and laws [Daniel 7:25]. -- Ellen White, A word to the Little Flock, page 18, paragraph 3, and Early Writings, page 32, paragraph 3.
The pope has changed the day of rest from the seventh to the first day. -- Ellen White, Early Writings, page 65, paragraph 1.
for posting this very interesting and relevant historical information.
