BEATITUDE imports the supreme good, or the highest
degree of happiness human nature is susceptible of; in other words, the most perfect state of a rational being, wherein the soul has attained to the utmost excellency and dignity it is capable of. In this sense it is equivalent to what we call "blessedness," or "sovereign felicity," the Greeks εὐδαιμονία, and the Latins summum bonum, beatitudo, and beatitas. Beatitudo, in a theological sense, denotes the beatific vision, or the fruition of God in a future life to all eternity. This term is also used in speaking of the opening theses of Christ's sermon on the mount.