noun

1. a beatifying or being beatified
2. R.C.Ch.
   1. investigation, now formal, of whether a deceased person should be publicly declared to be in heaven and so entitled to some public veneration: an affirmative decision may lead to canonization
   2. a public declaration, now made only by the pope, ratifying an affirmative decision arrived at through this investigation

Etymology: Fr béatification < MFr: see beatify