Dying in the odour of sanctity

The expression "to die in the odour of sanctity" is not a figure of speech. There are many documented examples of this occurrence throughout the course of history, beginning in the 1st century of our era. It is still happening today, even among ordinary people who have lived holy lives. The perceived fragrance is a mix of rose and violet scents, which have an obvious symbolic meaning, indicating that the person lived a life of great love and humility.

Variety of rose / © CC BY-SA 3.0

Reasons to believe:

The historian Waldemar Deonna, professor at the University of Geneva, lists at least 30 saints who gave off a mysterious scent when they were alive, 103 who did so when they died, and 347 saints whose bodies remained pleasantly fragrant long after they were buried. In view of the number of people who testify to this characteristic odour of sanctity, it is highly unlikely that each case is a lie or a collective olfactory hallucination.

Take, for example, the case of Saint Margaret of Hungary (d. 1270): the many people who came to pay their respects after she passed attest to a very particular smell emanating from her body, a flowery smell that is highly unlikely to exist in January. Then there is Saint Teresa of Avila (d. 1582), whose body was hastily buried in a pit; it was the scent emanating from her burial place that permitted her body (still incorrupt) to be found. We could also mention Saint Rita of Cascia, Saint Padre Pio, Saint Narcissus of Jesus, and many others.

The further back we go in Christian history, the less we can verify the facts and sort out the truth from pious exaggerations, and a smell tend to be difficult to prove. However, the continuation of the phenomenon in modern times allows us to form a better idea of what the odour of sanctity consists of and to find first-hand witnesses.

Summary:

Saint Margaret of Hungary (1242 - 1271) was nicknamed by her contemporaries "the fragrant rose in God's garden". From the age of 12, her piety was deep. She refused a marriage proposal, preferring to become a nun. Her life was filled with mystical graces and self-mortification. She had to fight against her family's desire to marry her off for political reasons, preferring to live a life of intense prayer. She died at the age of 29, exhausted by her penances. Her contemporaries testified that all around her exposed body, a strange perfume could be smelt, sweet and strong at the same time. The Church eventually canonised her, not because of this phenomenon, but because of the investigation into her life. She had developed three hearts, in the image of what the Fathers of the Church teach to define holiness: a heart of fire for God, a heart of stone for herself, and a heart of flesh for her neighbour. Her humility and charity were manifest.

Closer to our time is Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán (1832 - 1869), an Ecuadorian virgin and Dominican tertiary, known as "the little lily of Ecuador". Narcisa was a humble girl, who chose to an austere life of prayer and penance. No one would have paid any attention to her existence if, a century after her death, God had not manifested her soul through a number of miracles and exceptional phenomena, including the extraordinary fragrance of flowers. She is known in the region as the "Niña Narcisa". Not only was her body found intact 86 years after her death, but she was still exuding the same fragrance.

The Catholic Church, in her authority, gives this kind of phenomenon its rightful place: she verifies it and takes an interest in it. She records the accounts, but she is not satisfied with them. The investigation for canonisation focuses on the testimony of a life lived in holiness, which must be confirmed by one or more post-mortem established and significant miracles, not just prodigies, in which God shows that he wishes to make the person a model and intercessor.

Arnaud Dumouch is a Franco-belgian theologian and author specialised in eschatology. In 2013, Dumouch and Father Henri Ganty founded the Institut Docteur Angélique, which offers a complete online training programme in Catholic philosophy and theology, using Benedict XVI's hermeneutics of continuity.

Beyond reasons to believe:

What is the difference between a miracle and a prodigy?

Miracles (divine cause) go beyond the fundamental laws of nature and can never be explained by anything other than the infinite power of the Creator: for example, the resurrection of a decomposed corpse.

A prodigy (a possible natural cause) can have a possible explanation: for example, the resuscitation of a person who has been in cardiac arrest for a few minutes. Dying in the odour of sanctity is certainly a prodigy, although the cause is - in attested cases - the intervention of angels.

Going further:

MIRACLES OF THE SAINTS! Signs and Wonders from God: Miraculous Bodily Phenomena! by Michael Freze, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (March 2, 2016)

More information:

A Short Account of the Life and Virtues of the Venerable and Religious Mother, Mary of the Holy Cross: Abbess of the English Poor Clares at Rouen : ... Sweet Odour of Sanctity, March 21, Anno 1735 by Minister A. B, Wentworth Press (August 27, 2016)
The Holy Man Of Tours: Or, The Life Of Léon Papin-dupont, Who Died At Tours In The Odor Of Sanctity, March 18, 1876 by Pierre Désiré Janvier, Legare Street Press (October 26, 2022)
Life of Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified Who Died in the Odour of Sanctity in the Carmel of Bethlehem 1846-1878 by Peter F. Sfeir, Carmelite Convent (January 1, 1927)
Video What is "ODOR OF SANCTITY" ? Saints who emanate fragrant smells
Video Padre Pio The Fragrance of Saints - Why The Odour?