beatification

beatification
    n 1: a state of supreme happiness [syn: {blessedness},
         {beatitude}, {beatification}]
    2: the action of rendering supremely blessed and extremely happy
    3: (Roman Catholic Church) an act of the Pope who declares that
       a deceased person lived a holy life and is worthy of public
       veneration; a first step toward canonization
    

Beatification \Be*at`i*fi*ca"tion\
   (b[-e]*[a^]t`[i^]*f[i^]*k[=a]"sh[u^]n), n. [Cf. F.
   b['e]atification.]
   The act of beatifying, or the state of being beatified; esp.,
   in the R. C. Church, the act or process of ascertaining and
   declaring that a deceased person is one of "the blessed," or
   has attained the second degree of sanctity, -- usually a
   stage in the process of canonization. "The beatification of
   his spirit." --Jer. Taylor.
   [1913 Webster]
    

81 Moby Thesaurus words for "beatification":
      aggrandizement, apotheosis, ascent, assumption, beatitude,
      bewitchment, blessedness, blessing, bliss, blissfulness,
      canonization, cheer, cheerfulness, cloud nine, consecration,
      dedication, deification, delectation, delight, devotion,
      dignification, ecstasy, ecstatics, elation, elevation, enchantment,
      ennoblement, enshrinement, enthronement, erection, escalation,
      exaltation, exhilaration, exuberance, felicity, gaiety, gladness,
      glee, glorification, grace, hallowing, happiness, heaven, height,
      high spirits, immortalization, intoxication, joy, joyance,
      joyfulness, justification, justification by works, lifting,
      magnification, overhappiness, overjoyfulness, paradise,
      purification, raising, rapture, ravishment, rearing, sainthood,
      sainting, sanctification, setting apart, seventh heaven,
      state of grace, sunshine, sursum corda, transport,
      unalloyed happiness, upbuoying, upcast, upheaval, uplift,
      uplifting, upping, uprearing, upthrow, upthrust