Books: Anatomy of a Saint

THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE (319 pp.)—Mom's L West—Morrow ($3.95).

Saints issue from the hand of God, but they are canonized on earth. In what seems a paradox to most non-Catholics, the Roman Catholic Church brings the full light of reason to play on a complex mystery of faith: whether a man or woman has displayed Christlike sanctity, including the performance of miracles. To this question, the church brings the meticulous accounting of a bank examiner, the ferreting instincts of a good detective, and the judicial lore of centuries of precedents. In practice, these are embodied in an initial diocesan investigation of claims...