sanctify

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• transitive verb To set apart for sacred use; consecrate.
• transitive verb To make holy; purify.
• transitive verb To give religious sanction to, as with an oath or vow.
• transitive verb To give social or moral sanction to.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To make holy or clean, either ceremonially or morally and spiritually; purify or free from sin.
• To consecrate; set apart from a common to a sacred use; hallow or render sacred; invest with a sacred or elevated character: said of things or persons.
• To make efficient as a means of holiness; render productive of spiritual blessing.
• To make free from guilt; give a religious or a legal sanction to.
• To keep pure; render inviolable.
• To celebrate or confess as holy.
• Synonyms To hallow.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy or religious use; to consecrate by appropriate rites; to hallow.
• transitive verb To make free from sin; to cleanse from moral corruption and pollution; to purify.
• transitive verb To make efficient as the means of holiness; to render productive of holiness or piety.
• transitive verb To impart or impute sacredness, venerableness, inviolability, title to reverence and respect, or the like, to; to secure from violation; to give sanction to.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb transitive To make holy; to consecrate. Set aside for sacred or ceremonial use.
• verb transitive To free from sin; to purify.
• verb transitive To make acceptable or useful under religious law or practice.
• verb transitive To endorse with religious sanction.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb make pure or free from sin or guilt
• verb render holy by means of religious rites