Premice

Premice (primitiae or prima missae) is the first mass celebrated by the newly ordained priest (neomysta), with the help of an assistant. The solemnity begins thus: the new priest sings on the steps of the altar "Veni Sancte Spiritus," performs the corresponding ovation, and then distributes the holy water, if this is prescribed by the rubrics of the day. It is an open question among the rubricists if at a premice the mass of the day or a votival mass is to be read. The probable solution of the difficulty is that, on simple Sundays and ordinary "festis duplicibus," a votival mass may be said, such a mass being permitted on such days pro re gravi et publica, to which a premice solemnity may be said to belong; but the mass of the day must be preserved on high feasts, and on such Sundays on which votive masses are never admissible. The solemnity ends with the sacerdotal benediction, given by the new priest to the people by the imposition of hands (Lohner, Instructio practica de SS. Missae saccrificio, pt. 4:tit. 5; and Vogt, Instructio practica de Missis votivis, p. 197 sq.). The festivities connected with a premice, and not belonging directly to the ecclesiastical celebration, vary with the customs of countries and places, and are not seldom regulated by special prescriptions of the ecclesiastical authorities.