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(A.S.hal, perfect, or whole).Sanctitas in theVulgate of theNew Testament is the rendering of two distinct words,hagiosyne (1 Thess., iii,13) andhosiotes (Luke 1:75;Ephesians 4:24). These two Greek words express respectively the twoideas connoted by "holiness" viz.: that of separation as seen inhagios fromhagos, which denotes "any matter of religious awe" (the Latinsacer); and that of sanctioned (sancitus), that which ishosios has receivedGod's seal. Considerable confusion is caused by theReims version which rendershagiasmos by "holiness" in Hebrews 12:14, but more correctly elsewhere by "sanctification", whilehagiosyne, which is only once rendered correctly "holiness", is twice translated "sanctification".
St. Thomas (II-II:81:8) insists on the two aspects of holiness mentioned above, viz.,separation andfirmness, though he arrives at these meanings by dint of the etymologies ofOrigen andSt. Isidore. Sanctity, says theAngelic Doctor, is the term used for all that is dedicated to the Divine service, whetherpersons or things. Such must be pure or separated from the world, for the mind needs to be withdrawn from the contemplation of inferior things if it is to be set upon the Supreme Truth — and this, too, with firmness or stability, since it is a question of attachment to that which is our ultimate end and primary principle, viz.,God Himself — "I am sure that neither death, nor life, norangels. . . nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from thelove ofGod" (Romans 8:38-39). Hence St. Thomas defines holiness as that virtue by which a man's mind applies itself and all its acts toGod; he ranks it among the infused moral virtues, and identifies it with the virtue of religion, but with this difference that, whereas religion is the virtue whereby we offerGod due service in the things which pertain to the Divine service, holiness is the virtue by which we make all our acts subservient toGod. Thus holiness or sanctity is the outcome of sanctification, that Divine act by whichGod freely justifies us, and by which He has claimed us for His own; by our resulting sanctity, in act as well as in habit, we claim Him as our Beginning and as the End towards which we daily unflinchingly tend. Thus in the moral order sanctity is the assertion of the paramountrights ofGod; its concrete manifestation is the keeping of the Commandments, henceSt. Paul: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness [sanctimoniam,hagiasmon]: without which no man shallsee God" (Hebrews 12:14). The Greek word should ne noted; it is generally rendered "sanctification", but it is noteworthy that it is the word chosen by the Greek translators of theOld Testament to render theHebrew (rendered asAyin-Zayin), which properly means strength or stability, a meaning which as we have seen is contained in the word holiness. Thus to keep the Commandments faithfully involves a very real though hidden separation from this world, as it also demands a great strength of character or stability in the service ofGod.
It is manifest, however, that there are degrees in this separation from the world and in this stability inGod's service. All who would serveGod truly must live up to the principles ofmoral theology, and only so can men save theirsouls. But others yearn for something higher; they ask for a greater degree of separation from earthly things and a more intense application to the things ofGod. InSt. Thomas's own words: "All who worshipGod may be called 'religious', but they are specially called so who dedicate their whole lives to the Divine worship, and withdraw themselves from worldly concerns, just as those are not termed 'contemplatives' who merely contemplate, but those who devote their whole lives to contemplation". The saint adds: "And such men subject themselves to other men not forman's sake but for God's sake", words which afford us the keynote ofreligious life strictly so-called (II-II:81:7, ad 5um).
Newman, Sermons, vol. I: Holiness Necessary for Future Blessedness; Fuller, The Holy and the Profane State; Mallock, Atheistic Methodism and the Beauty of Holiness, Essay V in Atheism and the Value of Life (London, 1884); Faber, Growth in Holiness (London, 1854).
APA citation.Pope, H.(1910).Holiness. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07386a.htm
MLA citation.Pope, Hugh."Holiness."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 7.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07386a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Robert B. Olson.Offered to Almighty God for His graces and blessings granted to Fr. Jeffrey A. Ingham.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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