Read Kate’s latest for The Tablet – Odours of Sanctity
I don’t remember when I first came across the expression “the odour of sanctity”, but I do remember being baffled by it.
I didn’t even know whether it was meant to be a good or a bad smell, because such holy people as John the Baptist away in the wilderness can’t have had the chance to wash very often, and I remember reading about medieval saints who deliberately didn’t, because it implied the pampering of the body. Later I discovered that it often refers to a pious mediaeval superstition that the deaths of saints can be attended by wafts of heavenly perfume, and I think that might be related to the notion of (some) saints having incorruptible bodies. So it’s meant positively, but it’s complicated. And it’s not just medieval; look at all the stories about St Therese of Lisieux and the roses.
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