One of the five Catechisms that I have based my understanding of Catholicism on, apart from St. Thomas, St. Augustine, magisterial decrees and laymen's casual exposure of their beliefs, like Chesterton's or Belloc's, has no doubt been PETER GEIERMANN, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine.
The one I find cited now is Second Edition, from 1910. The one I had was from 1950 or from the 1950's, I think it could be the one from 1957.
Here is the quote anyway, and it's not to Peter Geiermann's credit as a historian:
QUESTION: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
ANSWER: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.
The Council of Laodicea* was not universal, and had no right to take precedence over Apostolic Tradition. Here is the canon Geiermann referred to:
Canon 29
Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.
The council was as said regional, and it could not have imposed itself elsewhere if it hadn't been for content seen as commendable.
Here are the Bible canons, in Canon 60:
These are all the books of Old Testament appointed to be read: 1, Genesis of the world; 2, The Exodus from Egypt; 3, Leviticus; 4, Numbers; 5, Deuteronomy; 6, Joshua, the son of Nun; 7, Judges, Ruth; 8, Esther; 9, Of the Kings, First and Second; 10, Of the Kings, Third and Fourth; 11, Chronicles, First and Second; 12, Esdras, First and Second; 13, The Book of Psalms; 14, The Proverbs of Solomon; 15, Ecclesiastes; 16, The Song of Songs; 17, Job; 18, The Twelve Prophets; 19, Isaiah; 20, Jeremiah, and Baruch, the Lamentations, and the Epistle; 21, Ezekiel; 22, Daniel.
And these are the books of the New Testament: Four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; The Acts of the Apostles; Seven Catholic Epistles, to wit, one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude; Fourteen Epistles of Paul, one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Hebrews, two to Timothy, one to Titus, and one to Philemon.
The OT corresponds to Ezra's 22 books, and the NT lacks the Apocalypse. This is not the Catholic Bible canon. Obviously, this council did not hold authority over all of the Catholic Church.
Canon 29 was not an innovation about when to rest, but a response to what was seen as a compromise. If Sunday hadn't already been the Lord's day, as per being the Day of Resurrection**, the day of the gathering for Holy Mass***, since Apostolic times, a local council 300 years or more later could not have changed it so it became so.
Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
Oculi Sunday (after First Vespers)
7—8.III.2026
* Synod of Laodicea (4th Century)
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3806.htm
** Matthew 28:1 *** Acts of Apostles 20:7
No comments:
Post a Comment