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odour of sanctity

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 2 January 2025

Etymology

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A calque of French odeur de sainteté (“sweet smell said to be emitted by bodies of saints at or after death”), from Late Latin odor sānctitātis (literally “odour of sanctity”) (compare odor suāvitātis (literally “sweet odour”)),[1] from odor (“(sweet) smell, odour”) + sānctitātis (genitive singular of sānctitās (“sacredness, sanctity; holiness, virtue”)).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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odour of sanctity (usually uncountable, plural odours of sanctity) (British spelling)

  2. (chiefly Christianity, historical, especially Middle Ages) A sweet smell, usually likened to that of flowers, said to be emitted by the bodies of saints during their life, or especially at or after death.
    • 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.
    • 1884, E[benezer] Cobham Brewer, “Odour of Sanctity”, in A Dictionary of Miracles: Imitative, Realistic, and Dogmatic, Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC, page 510, column 2:
      The odours of sanctity differ both in quality and degree. St. Benedicta tells us from "personal observations" she finds that the odours of the angelic hierarchy differ as much as the perfume of flowers.
    • 1977, John Julius Norwich, “The City Rises Up”, in Venice: The Rise to Empire, London: Allen Lane, →ISBN, pages 52–53:
      It [the body of Saint Mark the Evangelist] 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.'
    • 1998, Constance Classen, “The Breath of God: Sacred Histories of Scent”, in The Color of Angels: Cosmology, Gender and the Aesthetic Imagination, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, part I (Cosmology), page 46:
      As the odor of sanctity indicated the triumph of spiritual virtue over physical corruption, it was often considered able to heal physical ills. Numerous stories in saint lore refer to the healing power of the fragrance associated with a saint. […] The fact that corpses at this time were usually held to spread disease by their odor, made the curative power of the scents produced by the saint's corpse another example of how the natural order of bodily decay was reversed in the case of the saint through supernatural grace.
    • 2004, Frank Graziano, “Miracle of the Rose”, in Wounds of Love: The Mystical Marriage of Saint Rose of Lima, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 80–81:
      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." That expectation was registered and at once reinforced by the endless elaboration of the odor of sanctity in hagiography, where the trope tended to be literalized.
    • 2005, John J. Jørgensen, “‘Why Not Take All of Me?’ The Afterlife of Hui-neng as a Relic in China”, in Inventing Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch: Hagiography And Biography in Early Ch’an (Sinica Leidensia; 68), Leiden, South Holland: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, part I (The Hagiographical Image and Relic Worship), page 241:
      These [Taoist] 'immortals' were either resurrected or their bodies regrew, or the corpse did not go cold and emitted a 'pleasant' odour of sanctity.
  3. (figurative)
    2. A person's reputation for, or state of, holiness.
      to die in odour of sanctity
      • 1756, Alban Butler, “February III”, in The Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints: […], 3rd edition, volume II, Edinburgh: […] J. Moir, […]; for J. P. Coghlane, […]; and F. Coates, […], published 1798, →OCLC, footnote (b), page 43:
        [S]he [Saint Margaret of England] made her profession in the Cistercian nunnery at Laon, where she died in odour of sanctity in 1192.
      • a. 1807 (date written), Samuel Horsley, “Sermon VII. Psalm xlv. 1.”, in Sermons, volume I, New York, N.Y.: […] T. and J. Swords, […], published 1811, →OCLC, page 75:
        Now the psalmist says, that the fragrance breathing from the garments of the King far excels, not only the sweetest odours of any earthly monarch's palace, but that it surpasses those spiritual odours of sanctity in which the King himself delights. The consolations which the faithful, under all their sufferings, receive from him, in the example of his holy life, the ministration of the word and sacraments, and the succours of the Spirit, are far beyond the proportion of any thing they have to offer in return to him, in their praises, their prayers, and their good lives, notwithstanding in these their services he condescends to take delight.
      • 1817, Robert Southey, chapter XXVI, in History of Brazil, 2nd part, London: […] [William Pople] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], →OCLC, page 457:
        The Jesuits were flourishing in general favour at this time; [Joseph of] Anchieta's memory was still fresh in Brazil, and [John] Almeida was then living in the odour of sanctity.
      • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter IV, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 67:
        [M]y respected grandmother, Hilda of Middleham, who died in odour of sanctity, little short, if we may presume to say so, of her glorious name-sake, the blessed Saint Hilda of Whitby, God be gracious to her soul!
      • 1829, Robert Southey, “The Pilgrim to Compostela: Being the Legend of a Cock and a Hen, to the Honour and Glory of Santiago. A Christmas Tale. The Legend. Part IV.”, in All for Love; and The Pilgrim to Compostela, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 178:
        These blessed Fowls, at seven years end, / In the odour of sanctity died: / They were carefully pluck'd, and then / They were buried, side by side.
        Humorously applied to chickens.
      • 1829, Richard Sucklethumkin Spruggins [pseudonym; Walter Sneyd], Portraits of the Spruggins Family, […]‎[1], [London?]: [s.n.], →OCLC:
        Simeon, second son of Zachary Spruggins, […] took up his abode at Quimper Corentin, where he embraced the Catholic Religion, and spent the remainder of his life in acts of devotion and charity. He was raised to the odour of sanctity by Pope Innocent XII. about the year 1700.
        That is, canonized as a saint. A humorous work describing fictitious people.
      • 1838 August 20 (date written), [Étienne-Louis] Charbonnaux, “Missions of India. [Letter of M. Charbonnaux, Missionary Apostolic, to M. Tesson, Director of the Seminary of Foreign Missions.]”, in Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, a Periodical Collection of Letters from the Bishops and Missionaries Employed in the Missions of the Old and New World: […], number 1, London: [J. L. Cox & Sons] for the Institution [for the Propagation of the Faith]; sold by Keating and Brown, […], published July 1839, →OCLC, page 497:
        [T]heir persons too are far from being in the odour of sanctity with the natives. M. Aulagne, when travelling, lately came to an inn at Cadappah, where he was asked who he was; some persons who were with him incautiously answered that he was a Padre. Upon hearing this, the people of the house treated him very rudely, and notwithstanding his venerable air, and long white beared, he was driven away with disgrace.
      • 1884, [Margaret] Oliphant, “The Orseoli”, in The Makers of Venice: Doges, Conquerors, Painters, and Men of Letters, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, part I (The Doges), page 18:
        Pietro [I Orseolo] 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 works.
      • 1931 July, John Buchan, “Epilogue”, in The Blanket of the Dark, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, published September 1933, →OCLC, page 373:
        On the shelf beneath him is the figure of his countess, less resplendent, but with 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.
      • 1951 June, Austin Lane Poole, “Church and State: Anselm”, in G[eorge] N[orman] Clark, editor, From Domesday Book to Magna Carta 1087–1216 (The Oxford History of England; 3), 2nd edition, London: Oxford University Press, published 1955 (1958 printing), →OCLC, page 191:
        William [of York], 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).
    4. (chiefly humorous or ironic) A (supposed) general aura of goodness or virtue.
      • 1753, John White, “Postscript”, in The Protestant Englishman Guarded against the Arts and Arguments of Romish Priests and Emissaries. […], London: […] C. Davis, […]; and L. Davis, […], →OCLC, footnote (a), page 327:
        […] Kings and Queens, Princes and Princeſſes, and other Perſons of high Rank and Fortune, being able to build Churches, eaſily attained to Saintſhip, vvhich thoſe of lovver Rank, tho' perhaps much better and holier Perſons, not having vvherevvithal to build them, could not do, but lived and died, vvithout leaving the leaſt Odour of Sanctity behind them.
      • 1813, James Hall, “History of Gothic Architecture in Successive Ages. […]”, in Essay on the Origin, History, and Principles, of Gothic Architecture, London; Edinburgh: […] W[illiam] Bulmer and Co. […]; for John Murray, […]; J. Taylor, […]; and W[illiam] Blackwood, […], →OCLC, page 118:
        For it [the old church at Glastonbury] 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 for its sanctity.
      • 1859, Thomas Colley Grattan, “Nahant”, in Civilized America. […], 2nd edition, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC, page 59:
        In one word, this sabbath service at Nahant is but a mockery. It is not inspired by morality or holiness. 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 teachers, offering a banquet of wholesome food for the minds and not for the passions of men.
      • 1901 or 1902, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, “[The Sentimental Essays] The Pantheon”, in Jeffrey M. Heath, editor, The Creator as Critic and Other Writings, Toronto, Ont.: Dundurn Press, published 2008, →ISBN, part II (Essays), page 161:
        The twenty-six cartloads of relics which were brought here when the building [the Pantheon in Rome] was dedicated to Sta Maria ad Martyres, have failed to give it the odour of sanctity.
      • 1941, John T[homas] Flynn, “The Rothschilds: Imperialist Bankers”, in Men of Wealth: The Story of Twelve Significant Fortunes from the Renaissance to the Present Day, New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 122:
        The ethics of city party gangs, perfumed and rigged out in a frock coat and sprayed with the odors of sanctity, have characterized the public morals of investment bankers the world over.
      • 2000, Jonathan Aycliffe [pseudonym; Denis MacEoin], chapter 5, in A Shadow on the Wall, Sutton, Surrey; New York, N.Y.: Severn House Publishers, →ISBN, page 34:
        Here, at the church door, where I might have expected an odour of sanctity, I sensed only evil.

Alternative forms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ “odour of sanctity, n.” under “odour | odor, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024; “odour of sanctity, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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