Likely we’ve all heard the expression “to play the devil’s advocate.” It has an interesting origin.

 Likely we’ve all heard the expression “to play the devil’s advocate.” It has an interesting origin.

Beginning in the 16th century, when a person was being considered for canonization by the Catholic Church, the candidate’s merits and qualifications for sainthood were presented by a canon lawyer called the advocatus Dei (“God’s advocate”), whose function was to make the case for the candidate’s canonization. Opposing the advocatus Dei was another church-appointed canon lawyer, whose assignment was to argue against canonization, by trying to uncover reasons the candidate was not deserving of sainthood. That lawyer was called, you guessed it, “the devil’s advocate” (advocatus diaboli).

In 1983, under the direction of Pope John Paul II, the process was reformed, and the “devil’s advocate” role was merged into the office of the “Promoter of the Faith,” whose responsibility includes overseeing a comprehensive examination of a candidate’s merits, making the process now less like a trial and more like an investigation or study. 

While there may no longer be an official “devil’s advocate,” the expression has likely entered our language to stay. But, to play the devil’s advocate, maybe it will disappear from popular usage and someday be known only to history enthusiasts.

Unable to find a painting of an actual devil’s advocate in action, we present instead a painting of Joan of Arc, based on the banner used at her canonization ceremony at the Vatican in 1920.