beatification
beatification Lexical Profile
beatification Game Scores & Validity
• noun
In the Roman Catholic Church, the official papal declaration that a deceased person is in a state of bliss in heaven and worthy of public religious veneration, constituting the final formal step before canonization as a saint.
"Thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square to witness the beatification of the revered nineteenth-century missionary."
The state of being rendered supremely blessed or happy, or the act of exalting someone or something to an idealized state of perfection.
"The biographer's uncritical beatification of the late composer overlooked several well-documented flaws in his personal character."
Word Nuance & Usage
In Roman Catholic tradition, beatification (conferring the title 'Blessed') is the third of four steps toward sainthood and should not be conflated with canonization, the final stage that officially declares a person a saint.
• Rhymes for beatification
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the early 16th century from Middle French beatification or directly from Late Latin beatificationem, a noun of action from the verb beatificare ('to make blessed'), formed from Latin beatus ('happy, blessed') and facere ('to make').