BEIATIFIC
364
BEATIFICATION
attention to illustration. While still a lad he at-
tracted the attention of Sir E. Burne-Jones and
Puvis de Chavannes. and it said much for his genius
tliat it received encouragement from men so different
in their aims and practice. When nineteen he ac-
cepted the tremendous task of illustrating the " Morte
D'Arthur ", and carried it through. The famous arti-
cle upon him in the "Studio" appeared in April. 1893,
and from that moment liis «ork was in great demand.
In April, 1894, he became art editor of the "Yellow
Book", the first numbers of which caused a great
sensation. He was responsible for the first four
\olumes and then, with Arthur Symons, started the
"Savoy", to which he contributed a series of draw-
ings. During his short life he carried the art of
black and white further than any man since Albrecht
Diirer. His special qualities were described by
Hammerton as of "extreme economy of means the
perfection of discipline, of self-control, and of thought-
ful deliberation at the very moment of invention".
Beardsley had a mar\-ellous knowledge of the quality of line, a real and powerful sense of beauty, coupled with a constant desire to be quaint, fanciful, or bizarre. He possessed a vigour, inventiveness, and daintiness almost unapproachable in the work of any other man. Hammerton speaks of the "serene surety of his drawing", of his "superb sense of style"; but Beardsley 's love of mischief, which he deeply regretted, led him into serious faults and caused him to be often misunderstood. By those who knew him he was regarded as the most original, brilliant, witty, and lovable man they ever met. His illustrations of " Salome , "The Rape of the Lock", ■■Mademoiselle de Maupin " and ■' Vol- pone " are amongst his greatest works. From boy- liood he had bad health and suffered from frequent attacks of hsemorrliage. He was alwaj's a man of deep religious feeling and became a Catholic at the close of his life (31 March, 1895).
Symons. Life of Beardsley (London. 1S98); The Studio (1S93); The Magazine of Art (1S93-941; Ross, Eutogy of Beardsley in Volpone (London, 1S9S); Gallatin, Bibiiog. of hi.s drawings and of magazine articles (New York, 1900).
George Ch.\rles Willumsox.
Beatific Vision, the immediate knowledge of God which the angelic spirits and the souls of the just enjoy in Heaven. It is called "vision" to dis- tinguish it from the mediate knowledge of God which the human mind may attain in the present life. And since in beholding God face to face the created in- telhgence finds perfect happiness, the %'ision is termed "beatific". For further explanation of the subject, see He.wex. E. A. Pace.
Beatification and Canonization. — 1. Hi.story. — According to some writers the origin of Ijeatification and canonization in the Catholic Church is to be traced back to the ancient pagan apotheosis. (See Apotheosis.) In his classic work on the subject (De Servorum Dei Beatificatione et Beatorum Canon- izatione) Benedict XIV examines at the very outset and refutes this view. He shows so well the sub- stantial differences between them that no right- thinking person need henceforth confoimd the two institutions or derive one from the other. It is a matter of historj- who were elevated to the honour of apotheosis, on what grounds, and by whose au- lliority; no less clear is the meaning that was attached to it. Often the decree was due to the statement of a single person (possibly bribed or enticed by promises, and with a view to fix the fraud more se- curely in the minds of an already superstitious people) that while the body of the new god was being burned, an eagle, in the case of the emperors, or a peacock (Juno's .sacred bird), in the case of their consorts, was seen to carry heavenward the spirit of the de- parted (Li\'j', Hist. Rome, I, xvi; Herodian, Hist. Rome, IV, ii, iii). Apotheosis was awarded to most
members of the imperial family, of which family
it was the exclusive privilege. No regard was had
to \-irtues or remarkable acliievements. Recoui-se
was frequently had to this form of deification to
escape popular hatred by distracting attention from
the cruelty of imperial rulers. It is said that Romulus
■nas deified by the senators who slew him; Poppa>a
owed her apotheosis to her imperial paramour, js'ero,
after he had kicked her to death; Geta had the honour
from his brother Caracalla, who had got rid of him
through jealousy. Canonization in the Catholic
Church is quite another thing. The Catholic Church
canonizes or beatifies only those whose lives have
been marked by the exercise of heroic virtue, and
only after this has been proved by common repute
for sanctity and by conclusive arguments. The
cliief difference, however, lies in the meaning of
the term canonization, the Chiu-ch seeing in the
saints nothing more than friends and servants of
God whose holy li\-es have made them worthy of
His special love. Slie does not pretend to make gods
(cf. Eusebius Emisenus, Serm. de S. Rom. M.; Au-
gustine, De Civitate Dei, XXII, x; CjTill. Alexandr.,
(Contra Jul., lib. VI; Cj'prian, De Exhortat. niart-ST.;
Cone. Nic, II, act. 3).
The true origin of canonization and beatification must be sought in the Catholic doctrine of the wor- ship (cuUus), invocation, and intercession of the saints. As was taught by St. Augustine (Qu^est. in Heptateuch., lib. II, n. 94; contra Faustum, lib. XX, xxi). Catholics, while giving to God alone adora- tion strictly so-called, honour the saints because of the Divine supernatural gifts which have earned them eternal life, and through which they reign with God in the heavenly fatherland as His chosen friends and faithful servants. In other words, Catholics honour God in His saints as the loving distributor of supernatural gifts. The worship of latria (Xarpf/a). or strict adoration, is given to God alone; the wor- ship of dulia (Soi/Xeia), or honour and humble re\- erence, is paid the saints; the worship of hyperdulia (lnrepdov\€ta) , a higher form of dulia, belongs, on account of her greater excellence, to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church (Aug., Contr. Faustum, XX, xxi 21; cf. De Civit. Dei, XXII, x) erects her altars to God alone, though in honour and memorj- of the saints and martjTS. There is Scriptural war- rant for such worsliip in the passages where we are bidden to venerate angels (Ex., xxiii, 20 sqq.; Jos., v, 13 sqq.; Dan., viii, 15 sqq.; x, 4 sqq.; Luke, ii, 9 sqq.; Acts, xii, 7 sqq.; Apoc, v, 11 sqq.; vii. 1 sqq.; Matt., xviii, 10; etc.), whom holy men are not unlike, as sharers of the friendship of God. And if St. Paul beseeches the brethren (Rom., xv, 30; II Cor., i, 11; Col., iv, 3; Ephes., vi, 18. 19) to help liim by their prayers for him to God, we must with even greater reason maintain that we can be helped by the prayers of the saints, and ask their intercession with huniihty. If we may beseech those who still live on earth, why not those who live in heaven? It it objected that the in\ocation of saints is opposed to the unique mediatorship of Christ Jesus. There is indeed "one mediator of God and man. the man Clirist Jesus". But He is our mediator in His quality of our common Redeemer; He is not our sole inter- cessor nor ad\ocatc, nor our sole mediator by way of supplication. In the eleventh session of the Coun- cil of (3halcedon (451) we find the Fathers exclaiming, "Flavianus lives after death! May the MartjT pray for us!" If we accept this doctrine of the worship of the saints, of which there are innumerable e\n- dences in the writings of the Fathers and the litur- gies of the Eastern and Western Churches, we shall not wonder at the loving care with which the Church committed to ■writing the sufferings of the early niartjTs, sent these accounts from one gathering of the faithful to another, and promoted the veneration
