[John Beresford Tipton]

"The next to the last.
It is a word and they used it correctly."

But beatification is not the next to last step *Before* sainthood.
Beatification is the LAST, i.e., ultimate, step *Before* sainthood.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I sit corrected.

[stripes1776]

Beatification is the LAST, i.e., ultimate, step *Before* sainthood.

Isn't canonization the last step before sainthood? In that case, canonization is the ultimate step, and beatification is the penultimate step.