odour of sanctity

English

Alternative forms

• odor of sanctity

Etymology

Compare French en odeur de sainteté.

Noun

odour of sanctity

1. (chiefly Christianity, especially Middle Ages) A sweet smell, usually likened to flowers, said to be emitted by the corpses, or even the living bodies, of saints.
   • 1824, Robert Southey, “View of the Papal System”, in The Book of the Church. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 291:

     Perhaps, too, the opinion that the relics of the holy dead were distinguished by a peculiar fragrance, may have arisen from embalmed bodies: at first, it might honestly have obtained among the Clergy; but when they saw how willingly it was received by the people, whenever a new mine of relics was opened, care was taken that the odour of sanctity should not be wanting.

   • 2003, John Julius Norwich, A History of Venice, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

     It was then put into a large basket and carried down to the harbour, where a Venetian ship was waiting. By this time the odour of sanctity that issued from the body was becoming so strong that, in the words of one chronicler, ‘If all the spices of the world had been gathered together in Alexandria, they could not have so perfumed the city.’

   • 2004, Frank Graziano, Wounds of Love: The Mystical Marriage of Saint Rose of Lima, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 80:

     During the Middle Ages a sweet smell came to be expected of holy corpses, " and if the corpse of a servant of God did not emit 'the odour of sanctity,' the veneration might stop as quickly as it had begun.

   • 2005, John J. Jørgensen, Inventing Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch: Hagiography And Biography in Early Ch'an, BRILL, →ISBN, page 241:

     These 'immortals' were either resurrected or their bodies regrew, or the corpse did not go cold and emitted a 'pleasant' odour of sanctity.

2. (by extension, of people) A state of or reputation for holiness.

   to die in odour of sanctity

   • 1817, Robert Southey, History of Brazil, page 457:

     The Jesuits were flourishing in general favour at this time; Anchieta 's memory was still fresh in Brazil, and Almeida was then living in the odour of sanctity.

   • 1821, Alban Butler, The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints, page 41:

     […] whose brother Thomas was banished by Henry II among the friends and relations of St. Thomas of Canterbury. By this brother's advice she made her profession in the Cistercian nunnery at Laon, where she died in odour of sanctity in 119'.'.

   • 1955, Austin Lane Poole, From Domesday Book to Magna Carta: 1087-1216, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 191:

     William, though indolent, was not altogether unsuitable for the post, and he died in an odour of sanctity (he was canonized by Pope Honorius III in 1226).

   • 2011, John Buchan, The Blanket of the Dark, House of Stratus, →ISBN, page 274:

     ... a gilt coif above her marble face. On the entablature, among the heraldic scutcheons, may be read in lapidary Latin how Sabina, Comitessa de Roodhurst, died in the odour of sanctity in the year after her lord, hasting to rejoin him in Heaven.

   • 2012, Margaret Oliphant, The Makers of Venice: Doges, Conquerors, Painters, and Men of Letters, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 18:

     Pietro died nineteen years after in the odour of sanctity, and was canonised, to the glory of his city. His breve, the inscription under his portrait in the great hall, attributes to him the building of San Marco, as well as many miracles and wonderful ...

3. (by extension) A general aura of holiness.
   • 1753, John White, The Protestant Englishman Guarded Against the Arts and Arguments of Romish Priests and Emissaries: ... By John White, ... ..., page 327:

     ... Churches, easily attained to Saintſhip, which those of lower Rank, tho' perhaps much better and holier Persons, not having wherewithal to build them, could not do, but lived and died, without leaving the least Odour of Sanctity behind them.

   • 1813, Sir James Hall, Essay on the origin, history, and principles of Gothic architecture, page 118:

     For it is of all the churches in England the first and most ancient ; first made of twisted rods, from which a divine odour of sanctity spread its perfume over all the world ; and though made of mean materials, was held in the highest veneration [...]

   • 2008, Edward Morgan Forster, The Creator as Critic and Other Writings by E.M. Forster, Dundurn, →ISBN, page 161:

     The twenty-six cartloads of relics which were brought here when the building was dedicated to Sta Maria ad Martyres, have failed to give it the odour of sanctity.

   • 2011, Thomas Colley Grattan, Civilized America, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 59:

     It has neither the odour of sanctity, nor the flavour of philosophy. And I greatly fear that most of the ministers who come to do the duty, at so many dollars a-head, do it rather like students reciting a theme as part of their task-work, than as gospel […]

   • 2015, Jonathan Aycliffe, A Shadow on the Wall, Skyhorse, →ISBN:

     Here, at the church door, where I might have expected an odour of sanctity, I sensed only evil.

Translations

sweet smell emitted by corpses of saints

• French: odeur de sainteté (fr) m (preceded by en)
• Spanish: olor de santidad m

idiomatic, of a person: state of holiness

• French: odeur de sainteté (fr) m (preceded by en)
• German: Geruch der Heiligkeit m (preceded by im)

general aura of holiness

See also

• in bad odor

Further reading

• “odour of sanctity”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “odour of sanctity”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “odor of sanctity”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.