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Odor of Sanctity

Perfume said to be exhaled by Christian saints, even after death. The idea that sin has a disagreeable odor and holiness a sweet perfume occurs in Romance literature and reflects folk beliefs of medieval times. Over the centuries, the idea of the sweet smell has been tied to that of the incorruption of the body of some saints.

In Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur (translated as History of Prince Arthur), the death of the wicked Sir Corsabrin is described as follows: "Then they smote off the head of sir Corsabrin, and therewithal came a stench out of the body, when the soul departed." And in contrast, the death of the noble Sir Launcelot is described: "When sir Bors and his fellows came to sir Launcelot's bed, they found him stark dead, and the sweetest savour about him that ever they did smell."

St. Benedicta (ca. 1643) claimed that angels had perfumes as various as those of flowers; Benedicta herself was supposed to exhale the sweet perfume of the love of God. The body of St. Clare (660 C.E.), abbot of Ferriol, exhaled a sweet odor after death, which pervaded St. Blandina's church. When St. Hubert of Britanny (714 C.E.) died, the whole province was said to be filled with sweet perfume. St. Casimir, Patron of Poland, died in 1483, and when his body was exhumed one hundred and twenty years later, it exhaled a sweet smell.