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sanbenito

(san′bə nēt′ō)

a yellow garment resembling a scapular in shape and having a red Saint Andrew's cross in front and in back, worn by a confessed, penitent heretic in the Spanish Inquisition
a similarly shaped black garment painted with flames, devils, etc., worn by a condemned heretic at an auto-da-fé

Origin: Sp sambenito, after San Benito, Saint Benedict: from resembling a Benedictine scapular

See sanbenito in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun pl. san·be·ni·tos

A garment of sackcloth worn at an auto-da-fé of the Spanish Inquisition by condemned heretics, being yellow with red crosses for the penitent and black with painted flames and devils for the impenitent.

Origin:

Origin: Spanish sambenito

Origin: , after San Benito, Saint Benedict of Nursia (from its similarity to the scapular supposedly introduced by him)

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