Premice (primitue or prima missa) is the first mass celebrated by the newly ordained pro - mysta), with the help of an assistant. The solemnity
begins thus: the new priest sings on lb.' steps of the
altar " Vcni Sancie Spiritus." performs the correspond- ing 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 proba- ble solution of the difficult; is that, on simple Sundays and ordinary " testis duplicibus," a votn al mass may be said, such a mass being permitted on such da}
gravi 1 1 publico, to which a premie.' solemnity maj In- said to belong; but the mass of the day must be pre- served 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 bauds | Lohncr, fnstructio practica dt SS. Missa sacrificio, pt. iv, tit.v; and Vogt, fnstructio practica de Missis votivis, p. 197 sip). The festivities connected with a premice. and
not belonging directly to the ecclesiastical celebration, varj with the customs of countries and places, and are not seldom regulated by special prescriptions of the ec-
Clesiastical authorities.
PREMICE SERMONS
Premice Sermons are discourses preached on the occasion of the first mass of an incipient priest. Their aim is to call the attention of both ecclesiastics and laymen to the dignity and importance of the sacer- dotal state, and the duties which it imposes on both classes. Therefore the object of the sermon can only be some truth which relates to the clerical state : e. g. the dignity, the importance, of the priestly career; the priesthood of the Romish Church, its destination, or the duties arising from it, etc. According to the theme chosen, the sermon enlarges upon the object of the priestly functions, or the qualities, conditions, mode of action of the priesthood, or its duties and beneficial in- fluences, etc. At the end of the sermon there may be a prayer, or an exhortation to prayer.
Premonstratensians or Prkmonsteants is the name of a monastic order which was founded at Pre- montre (Lat. Pramonstratuin), in the diocese of Laon, France, about 1120, by St. Norbert of Cleves, afterwards archbishop of Magdeburg, with a view to restore the discipline of the regular canons, which had greatly deteriorated. The order followed the rule of St. Au- gustine, and was confirmed by popes Honorius II and Innocent III. The ground on which the order was es- tablished was given to St. Norbert by the bishop of Laon, with the approbation of Louis the Gross, king of France, who gave the Premonstratensians a charter of privileges. The place was called Pra?monstratum, be- cause it was pretended that the Blessed Virgin herself pointed out (preemonstravit) beforehand the site for the principal house of the order. According to these legen- dary authorities, the members of the order were at the same time commanded to wear a white habit, and con- sequently the White Canons wore a white cassock and rochet and a long white cloak. The abbots never wore pontificals; and any member promoted to the cardinal- ate or popedom retained his habit. At the time of the founding of the order St. Norbert had thirteen compan- ions, but. as the popes and kings of France granted it many privileges, and were very liberal to the Premon- stratensians, they rapidly increased, and counted among their number many persons of distinguished birth, deep piety, and great scholarship. In the early history of the order there was such strict adherence to the rule of poverty that they had nothing they could call their own but one ass, which served them to carry wood, cut down by them every morning and sent to Laon, where it was sold to purchase bread; but in a short time they received so many donations, and built so many monasteries, that thirty years after the founda- tion of this order thev had above a hundred abbevs in
509 PRENORMAN ARCHITECTURE
France and Germany. The order has likewise given the Church a great number of archbishops and bishops. It once had 1000 abbeys and 500 nunneries (until 1273 their monasteries were double, a house of women always adjoining the convent of men), but it is now the mere skeleton of what it was. Of the sixty-five abbeys which they had in Italy not one now remains. These monks, vulgarly called While Canons, went, first to England in the year 1146, where the first monastery, called New- house, was built in Lincolnshire by Peter de Saulia, and dedicated to St. Martialif. In the reign of Edward I, when that king granted his protection "to the monaster- ies, the Premonstratensians had twenty-seven houses in different parts of the country. They were commonly called li White Friars." They had six monasteries in Scotland— four in Galloway, one at Dryburgh, and one at Feme, in Ross-shire. They had also several houses in Ireland. In England their churches and conventual buildings were at Eastby, Leiston. liayham, Wendling, and Eggleston. They were very irregular in plan, the greater portion of the minster being aisleless and the transept unimportant, as they eschewed all processions. There is a fine ruin at Ardaines, near Caen, which gives a vivid illustration of the farming arrangements of the or- der— homely and retired lovers of the country, and enter- prising farmers. The principal houses were Torre, East Dereham, and Hales Owen. They carried the almuce over the right arm ; the Canons of St. Victor wore it like a tippet round the neck. See Fosbroke, Ancient Mon- achism (see Index); Herzog, Real-Encyld. xii, 82 sq.; Helyot, Uist. des Ordres, s. v.