sanctify v
1. render holy by means of religious rites [syn: consecrate, bless, hallow] [ant: desecrate]
2. make pure or free from sin or guilt; "he left the monastery purified" [syn: purify, purge] [also: sanctified]

Sanctify \Sanc"ti*fy\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sanctified; p. pr. & vb. n. Sanctifying.] [F. sanctifier, L. sanctificare; sanctus holy + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See Saint, and -fy.]
1. To make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy or religious use; to consecrate by appropriate rites; to hallow. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. --Gen. ii. 3. Moses . . . sanctified Aaron and his garments. --Lev. viii. 30.
2. To make free from sin; to cleanse from moral corruption and pollution; to purify. Sanctify them through thy truth. --John xvii. 17.
3. To make efficient as the means of holiness; to render productive of holiness or piety. A means which his mercy hath sanctified so to me as to make me repent of that unjust act. --Eikon Basilike.
4. To impart or impute sacredness, venerableness, inviolability, title to reverence and respect, or the like, to; to secure from violation; to give sanction to. The holy man, amazed at what he saw, Made haste to sanctify the bliss by law. --Dryden. Truth guards the poet, sanctifies the line. --Pope.

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Sanctity is an ancient concept widespread among religions, a property of a thing or person sacred or set apart within the religion, from totem poles through temple vessels to days of the week, to a human believer who achieves this state. Sanctification is the act or process of acquiring sanctity, of being made or becoming holy. To sanctify is literally "to set apart for special use or purpose," figuratively "to make holy or sacred," and etymologically from the Latin verb sanctificare which in turn is from sanctus "holy" and facere "to make."

In the various branches of Christianity sanctification usually refers to a person becoming more holy in some sense, with the details differing in different branches.

Anglicans teach that sanctification is a process of changing to become holy.

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