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. Ye 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 honors 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., 3 May, 5/6. 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.
