PRIMIZIE (DIRITTO): v. DECIME; OBLAZIONI.
FIRSTFRUITS. - A taking from the first fruits of the soil, sacred to the Lord like the firstborn, to be offered at the Temple, after the entry into Canaan, as a sign of grateful acknowledgment of Jahweh's supreme dominion and protection over the land.
Hebrew specifies: bikkūrim (Vulg. primitiae), the first ripe fruits of the fields and trees; and rē'ēth bikkūrē ha-'ādhāmāh (= the Akkadian rēlētī), in Greek ἐπικρὴ τῶν πρωτογεννημάτων τῆς γῆς; Ex. 23:19; Ez. 44:30; etc., the best of such fruits.
The people as such had to offer the first ears of grain at Passover (Lev. 23:10-14), and at Pentecost two loaves made from leavened dough of the new ears, to be burned on the altar together with two lambs (ibid. 23:15-20). As for the offerings of first fruits by individual Israelites, there was no determination as to quantity or time. The law referred in general to all the first fruits of the field and of the trees of the land of Israel, to which were added the ancient territories of Sihon (Deut. 2:32-37), of Og (ibid., 3:8 ff.) and later of Syria conquered by David. It was therefore extended to the fruits of new trees: in the fourth year they had to be consecrated entirely to Jahweh, and only in the fifth year could the Israelite enjoy them (Lev. 19:23 f.); to the first loaves of every new dough (Num. 15:20 f.; Ez. 44:30; cf. the Hallāh tractate of the Mishnah); to the first shearing of every sheep (Deut. 18:4).
All first fruits always belonged to the priests (Num. 18:13, 19; Deut. 18:4; Neh. 10:36[37]; Ez. 44:30). No offering is so attested and recommended as this one of the first fruits (I Sam. 2:29; II Chron. 31:5: Hezekiah restores it to honor; Neh. 10:36: it is resumed after the exile; Ez. 44:30; Mal. 3:8; Tob. 1:6; Prov. 3:9; Ezel. 7:34 [31]; 35:10; I Mach. 3:49). Later rabbis, basing themselves on Deut. 8:8, determined the offering of the first fruits in the seven common fruits of Palestine: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranate, oil and honey. They had to be of first choice and very fresh, except for grapes and figs, which could also be dried, if brought from afar. And they fixed the quantity of the offering, between 1/40 and 1/60 (St. Jerome, In Ezechielem, 45:13 f.; PL 25, 451). The offering at the Temple (Deut. 12:6 ff.) had its own rite (ibid., 26:1-11); the first fruits, arranged in a basket, were placed before Jahweh. Accurate determinations are found in the Bikkūrim tractate of the Mishnah concerning the material of the basket and the arrangement of the first fruits in it. Ordinarily groups were formed; the leader of the company gave the signal for departure by reciting Jer. 31:6; along the way Ps. 122 (121) was recited; at the entrance of the Temple, each one took his basket and carried it inside singing Ps. 150, to which the Levites responded with Ps. 30 (29). In the priests' court, a movement like a balance forward and back toward the altar symbolized the offering of the basket to Jahweh, while the prescribed formula was recited (Deut. 26:3-10).
In a figurative sense, Israel is called "first fruits of Jahweh" (Jer. 2:3). In the New Testament, the first converts are called first fruits (Rom. 16:5; I Cor. 16:15; Jas. 1:18); the virgins who follow the lamb (Rev. 14:4). Christ himself is "first fruits of those who sleep" (I Cor. 15:20, 23). Christians possess "the first fruits of the Spirit" (Rom. 8:23), inasmuch as the life of Grace is the very life of glory begun here on earth, to perpetuate itself in heaven.
Bibliography5 works
(phot. Gab. fot. naz.)
PRIMO E FELICIANO, saints, martyrs - Mosaic decoration of the apse where Pope Theodore (642-49) deposited the bodies of the two Martyrs - Rome, church of S. Stefano Rotondo.
773 f.; A. Clamer, in La Ste Bible (ed. L. Pirot, 2), Paris 1940, pp. 39 f., 71, 150, 169-72, 352 f., 674 ff.