odor of sanctity

Idioms  

1. Exaggerated or hypocritical piety, an assumption of moral superiority, as in This candidate puts off some voters with his odor of sanctity. This expression, originating in the medieval idea that the dead body of a saintly individual gives off a sweet smell, was used to describe saintliness in the mid-1700s. Today it is generally used ironically.

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Example Sentences

Then will waft about the world, to the Pope willingly immured in Rome, a mighty odor of sanctity.

From Time Magazine Archive

The odor of sanctity had settled strongly upon that lay temple by the time Atlanta's legal luminary, Lawyer Thomas E. Scott, cleared his throat and solemnly introduced the first speaker on the program.

From Time Magazine Archive

Most recent candidate, introduced in Rome by Canon Mugnier from Paris, is Anne de Guigne who "died in the odor of sanctity at the age of 11" in 1922.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then she realizes as she pictures a death in the odor of sanctity that she really does love Jimmy after all.

From Time Magazine Archive

Her brother Meresin died young, in the odor of sanctity.

From The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints January, February, March by Butler, Alban