Devil's Advocate

In the bare, rocky desolation of Calabria in Southern Italy, a cult of sainthood has grown around Giacomo Nerone, a mysterious figure who appeared in the last years of World War II. A dying English priest, Blaise Meredith, is dispatched from Rome as a canonical inquisitor, a Devil's Advocate, to investigate Nerone's sainthood. So begins this story that was nominated for the 1960 National Book Award.