SANCTITY. In an absolute sense, the Divinity. The sanctity of God is his total transcendence or total otherness. It is in this sense that the Church prays in the Gloria of the Mass, "You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High." All other sanctity is by participation, so that a creature has as much sanctity as it shares in the Divinity. Essentially it consists in the possession of sanctifying grace, although the term is usually applied to persons who practice more than ordinary virtue, especially the love of God and their neighbor.