Odour of Sanctity

[ForteanHerald143]

This is an, as yet, unexplained, beautiful, unearthly scent that is said to exude from a number of holy persons and certain European Saints.

Sister Giovanna Maria della Croce. At Rovereto in Italy in 1625 she took her symbolic wedding vows to Christ by putting on a wedding ring, however from that moment onwards a beautiful scent exuded from her finger.

Allegedly, even items that she touched were left with a lingering smell for several days.

Eventually through time her whole body began to exude this beautiful, unearthly, fragrance and her clothes would retain the smell long after she had finished wearing them.

Source: Dr. Karl P. N. Schuker, The Unexplained, Carlton Books Limited

Article Website: http://www.paranormality.com/odour_of_sanctity.shtml

 

[Kingsize Wombat]

Just randomly googling about it, I found a Catholic message board where people were discussing the subject. Padre Pio get s a lot of mentions - but also this, which normally is associated with "ghosts" of people who recently passed away:

Yes, a week or two after my mom died. My wife and I experienced it on our deck bringing grocery's in. There was a clear circle about 10" around we kept walking in and out of. It smelled like a florist shop for about 15 minutes within that circle. Tim

https://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=710741

But then there is holy stench, too!

Harvey recounts the story of one Syriac monk, Simeon the Stylite, so named because he spent the last 37 years of his life atop a pillar or stylite. Before his pillar-dwelling days, Simeon was a member of a monastic community. As a novice, he bound a rope around his waist so tightly that it caused bleeding. Simeon left the rope in place for a year, eventually causing his flesh to rot. The stench was so severe that he was eventually expelled from the community, according to accounts cited by Harvey.

The odour of sanctity however is really confined to just a few examples it seems:

The only two saints that are known to have had visible stigmata—Francis of Assisi and Padre Pio—both reportedly gave off a sweet smell from their wounds. When St. Polycarp was burned to death, his scorched body smelled of frankincense. And St. Teresa of Avila’s grave smelled like perfume for nine months after her death.

http://catholicexchange.com/sanctity-smell-like

It's all a bit morbid, really.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

I remember a parish priest who gave off the stench of a tom-cat. Just the arm-pits, I think, in his case.

I have seen it argued somewhere that Catholics were once discouraged from all genital ablutions for fear of arousal.

Published works I was given as a youth strongly discouraged dwelling on acts of hygiene in that vicinity.

Pheromones are not, strictly-speaking, smells at all but may be associated with these feral stinks.

It is sometimes stated by aficionados that musky aromas and scents of decomposition develop sweet and floral notes.

 

[Kingsize Wombat]

It is sometimes stated by aficionados that musky aromas and scents of decomposition develop sweet and floral notes.

I have heard that too, but it doesn't quite gel with my (very limited) exposure to such odours.

I have also read that the smell caused by the old Chinese tradition of foot binding was an aphrodisiac to some?

Where's the vomit emoticon?

 

[JamesWhitehead]

I see that Catholic forums online still get queries about how much soap might be sinful. Well the linked thread is 2011, to be exact.

I tend to think online religious discussion is driven by trolls, though. I once found a lengthy discussion about whether Jews circumcised their pets. It was on a Kosher cuisine message board, which made it even more incongruous.

 

[Yithian]

Would you want to eat an uncircumcised pet?

 

[JamesWhitehead]

I don't think this is the thread I remember but trolls tend to post similar questions everywhere!