Meaning of odour of sanctity | Babel Free

Definitions

1. 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.
   Middle-Ages, UK, especially, historical, uncountable, usually
2. A person's reputation for, or state of, holiness.
   UK, figuratively, uncountable, usually
3. A (supposed) general aura of goodness or virtue.
   UK, figuratively, humorous, ironic, uncountable, usually

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

“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.”

“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.'”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“to die in odour of sanctity”

“[S]he [Saint Margaret of England] made her profession in the Cistercian nunnery at Laon, where she died in odour of sanctity in 1192.”

“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.”

“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.”

“[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!”

“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.”

“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.”

“[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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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).”

“[…] 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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

CEFR level