Sunday

Sunday. Sunday replaced the Jewish Sabbath mainly in commemoration of Christ's Resurrection on this day. Already in NT times St Paul and the Christians of Troas assembled on the first day of the week ‘to break bread’ (Acts 20: 7), and in Rev. (1: 10) it is called ‘the Lord's day’.

The observance of Sunday as a day of rest began to be regulated by ecclesiastical legislation early in the 4th cent., and in 321 Constantine forbade townspeople to work on Sundays, though permitting farm labour. From the 6th to the 13th cent. ecclesiastical legislation became stricter, also enforcing attendance at Mass; it was supported by the infliction of severe penalties by the civil authorities. From the 13th cent. dispensations became common. According to current RC canon law, the faithful are normally obliged to hear Mass on Sunday or on the previous evening and to abstain from ‘work or business that would inhibit the worship to be given to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, or the due relaxation of mind and body’.

The Protestant Churches did not at first introduce special Sunday legislation, but the abuse of Sunday led to a reaction in some places and the development of Sabbatarianism (q.v.). In the 19th cent. Sunday was still mainly devoted to the duties of piety, but the secularization of life in the 20th cent. reduced its religious observance. Increased leisure in the Western world has been accompanied by pressure to abolish restrictions on both recreational and commercial activities on Sundays.