The literal translation of the Latin _Dies Dominica_, the Lord's Day, is not found in the name given to the first day of the week in any European tongue, save Portuguese, where the days of the week hold the old Catholic names, _domingo, secunda feira, terca feira_, etc. It is said that the seven days of the week as they stand in numerical order were retained and confirmed by Pope Silvester I. (314-336): "_Sabbati et Dominici diei nomine retento, reliquos hebdomadae dies Feriarum nomine distinctos, ut jam ante in Ecclesia vocari coeperunt appellari voluit; quo significaretur quotidie clericos, abjecta caeterarum rerum cura, uni Deo prorsus vocare debere" (Brev. Rom_. in VI. lect. St. Silvester Pope; 31st Dec.). There is no evidence of the abrogation of the Sabbath by Christ or by His Apostles, but St. Paul declared that its observance was not binding on Gentile converts. Accordingly, in the very early days of Christianity the Sabbath fell more and more into the background, yet not without leaving some traces behind it (see art. _Sonnabender_ in Kraut's _Realenzyklop_). Among Christians the first day of the Jewish week, the _prima Sabbati_, the present Sunday, was held in honour as the day of our Lord's resurrection and was called the Lord's Day (Apoc. i. 10; I. Cor, xvi. 2), This name, _dies dominica_, took the place of _dies solis_, formerly used in Greece and in Rome. This day has many names in the works of Christian writers. St. Ignatius, M. calls it _Regina omnium dierum_; St. Chrysostom, _dies pacis; dies lucis_; Alcuin, _dies sanctus; feria prima_, Baronius tells us, was another name for our Sunday. The subject of the liturgical celebration of the Lord's Day has been a great study and a problem to modern scholars. It appears that in the first ages of the Church, Sunday was a day of solemn reunion and of common prayer. St. Justin, in his second apology, writes that on the Lord's Day town and country met together at an appointed place for sacrifice, for the hearing of the word of God, for pious readings and for common prayer. This common, prayer consisted largely in the recitation of the Psalms, hymns and prayers, of what are called the Sunday Office. This office was nearly always the same in psalms, in hymns and in every part; so that Sunday after Sunday, for many years, there was very little change in the Sunday united-prayer part of the liturgy, although the preaching on the incidents of the life of our Lord (Beckel, _Messe und Pascha_, p, 91), the blessings and the thanksgivings relieved the service from monotonous sameness.