SANTIMONIALE. – From sanctimonia (sanctus plus the suffix monia); in Cicero, Pro Quinto, 17, 55, and in Tacitus, Ann., III, 69, it also means purity, integrity, with reference to human conduct. Christianity derived from the noun the epithet sanctimonialis, referring to virgins consecrated to God who are in a particular way devoted to the practice of those virtues.
BIBL.: Cod. Inst., IX, t. 13; s. Agostino, De Cio. Dei, I, 16. Nicola Turchi