Did the early Church move the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?

Sabbath and Lord's Day

This is a common misunderstanding. Under Jewish law the Sabbath is the last day of the week, Saturday, when God rested from the work of creation (Genesis 2:2-3). Catholics worship on the Lord's Day, the first day of the week and the "eighth day": the day God said "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3), the day Christ rose, and the day the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. The Church celebrates the day of the Resurrection on the "eighth day," Sunday, rightly called the Lord's Day (CCC 2191).

So the early Church did not move the Sabbath. Rather, the Sabbath, which marked the completion of the first creation, has been replaced by Sunday, which recalls the new creation begun by Christ's Resurrection (CCC 2190). Sunday, not Saturday, is the day Catholics must keep.

Scripture

• "On the first day of the week when we gathered to break bread, Paul spoke to them because he was going to leave on the next day, and he kept on speaking until midnight" (Acts 20:7).
• "On the first day of the week each of you should set aside and save whatever one can afford, so that collections will not be going on when I come" (1 Corinthians 16:2).
• "Let no one, then, pass judgment on you in matters of food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or sabbath" (Colossians 2:16).

Apostolic tradition

By a tradition from the apostles, beginning on the very day of the Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, the Lord's Day. It is both the first day of the week, recalling the first day of creation, and the "eighth day," when Christ after his "rest" on the great Sabbath inaugurates the day that knows no evening (CCC 1166). See also CCC 349, 2174, 2175 and 2191.