beatification
(biːˌætɪfɪˈkeɪʃən)
Also 6 beatyfycacyon.
[a. F. béatification, n. of action and state f. L. beātificāt-; see prec.]
1. The action of rendering, or condition of being rendered, supremely happy or blessed.
| 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) ii. xviii. 133 Y⊇ blyssed trynyte promytteth for to gyue unto us eternall beatyfycacyon. a 1631 Donne Serm. xii. 120 All the Beatification and Glorification of our bodies consists in this. 1824 Blackw. Mag. XVI. 5 That picture which Horace has given us of human beatification. 1865 Neale Hymns Parad. 66 What the beatification Of the spirits round the Throne? |
2. R.C. Ch. An act of the Pope, by which he declares that a deceased member of the Church is in the enjoyment of heavenly bliss, and grants to certain persons the privilege of paying a particular form of worship or reverence to him.
This ceremony is the first step towards canonization, which confers the full honours of a saint, and makes worship of him incumbent on the whole Church.
| 1626 L. Owen Spec. Jesuit. (1629) 32 You may see, how the..Beatification and Canonization of this wicked..Ignatius did..fore-shew some great disaster. 1781 J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) I. xlii. 454, I have been witness to the beatification of a saint. 1864 Daily Tel. 6 May, To hear his Holiness read a couple of decrees—one of beatification, the other of canonisation. Mod. The beatification of Joan of Arc. |
b. transf. with allusion to the halo of a saint.
| 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. IV. xlvi. 289 This experiment [with silvered leather on the head] has been called the diadem of beatification. |