The Goodson Blogson

Everyone, at some point in their lives, has played "devil’s advocate." Hopefully, Duke Law students also read The Devil’s Advocate . You may have even borrowed The Devil’s Advocate from our Legal DVDs collection. But do you know the origin of this famous phrase? A segment of CBS’s Sunday Morning Easter broadcast explored the process of canonization in the Roman Catholic Church ( transcript ). Two hagiographers (biographers of the saints) described some of the most memorable paths to sainthood in Church history (such as the patron saint of chefs being grilled over hot coals), while a Vatican official described the canonization process: There's no getting around the rule that you have to be responsible for at least two miracles. This (surprise, surprise) is hard for investigators to prove. "Sometimes you know, we're called upon to do a CSI investigation," said Sarno, "especially in cases, for example, of miracles, where you actually have to put down o...