SHALL SUNDAY BE THE “LORD’S DAY”?
Latin Races Have Used the “Dominico” Since 314.
[In the Catholic Mirror of April 7, 1900, there was printed the following article from Archbishop Martinelli, apostolic delegate of the pope to the United States. We reprint it, headings, signature, and all, just as it appeared in the Mirror. This contribution to the Sunday question from that source is of peculiar interest just at this time. Study it closely. It will be found full of subtle meaning.—ED.] The Latin races have used the word “Dominico,” or day of the Lord, to designate the first day of the week since the reign of Pope Sylvester I, who ruled the church from A. D. 312 to 337. From the beginning, we find that all those people who derive their language from the Latin—the Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese—do not honor a heathen god in the specific title which they give to the day which we call holy, but they call it, as we do in ecclesiastic Latin, Lord’s day—“Dominico” in Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, and “Dimanche” in French. The change which the Christian church made from the Sabbath to Sunday is too well known to need discussion. The early followers of Christ chose the first day of the week as the day of prayer rather than the last, mainly to commemorate his glorious resurrection. The teachings of the early Fathers tell us that the Holy Ghost descended upon the disciples on Whit Sunday, or Pentecost, and this constitutes another reason for the change. The observance of the Sunday or day of rest does not emanate from the natural law, which would indeed require us to worship the author of nature during parts of every day rather than during a whole day of every week. There is no divine law which commands us to commemorate Sunday. The observance is purely of ecclesiastical origin, dating, however, from the time of the apostles. But as we have no trace of the Sabbath being observed among the Hebrews before the time of Moses, we need not question the authority of the apostles to sanctify Sunday and set it apart as the day on which we honor the resurrection of the Son of God. The Anglo-Saxon word “Sunday” is the name given to honor the sun, the divinity considered the most powerful in heathen mythology. The names of the other days of the week are chosen to honor some other divinity; as, Monday, Luna, the moon; Tuesday, Mardi, Mars, the god of war; Wednesday, Woden, or Mercury; Thursday, or Thorday, the day on which Jupiter was remembered; Friday was dedicated to Venus; and Saturday to Saturn, the father of Jupiter and Neptune. I believe that all Christian people should proclaim their belief in the Son of God by honoring his name in the day which they have chosen to consecrate to him. This great country is a Christian country, and by adopting the word “Lord’s day,” or “Sunday,” to honor the Word Incarnate, it will bear witness of the truth. In the Latin we used to say “Dies de Dominus,” but this was considered too cumbersome for ordinary use, so the name has become simply Dominico. There will be some means of simplifying the English word to meet the popular requirements. We follow the New Testament as our guide, and we will find therein many reasons for calling the first day of the week the “Lord’s day.” Thus, there is but one passage in the New Testament in which we find the first day mentioned specifically as the Lord’s day; namely, in the Apocalypse 1:10. In Acts 20:7 we are told that St. Paul abode seven days at Troas, and that on the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread. We have every reason, both from revelation and from tradition, to consecrate the first day of the week to the Son of God, and to name it for him is consistently and religiously to put in practice the theory of our belief. I am interested in this discussion, and I hope that it will bear good fruits among the believers in Christ in this country.—Archbishop Martinelli, Delegate Apostolic to the United States.