Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Canonization \Can`on*i*za"tion\, n. [F. canonisation.]
   1. (R. C. Ch.) The final process or decree (following
      beatifacation) by which the name of a deceased person is
      placed in the catalogue (canon) of saints and commended to
      perpetual veneration and invocation.

            Canonization of saints was not known to the
            Christian church titl toward the middle of the tenth
            century.                              --Hoock.

   2. The state of being canonized or sainted.

Source : WordNet®

canonization
     n : (Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church) the act of
         admitting a deceased person into the canon of saints
         [syn: {canonisation}]