A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. is a novel about life after a nuclear holocaust. The novel is divided into three parts. The first section, life is similar to what I imagine Medieval times were like--before the printing press. The setting for all three sections is a monastery.
I wonder if people who aren't familiar to life in a monastery would like this book. I'm a fan of Brother Cadfael mysteries, so I know pretty much what monastic life was like. The monks' patron is Blessed Leibowitz. Leibowitz was martyred for booklegging. He was a secular engineer who converted to Catholicism and became dedicated to preserving knowledge. Hence, he was booklegging.
The focus is on a novice, named Francis. He fancies that he met Leibowitz, but he was fasting out in the desert--it's Lent. No one believes him and later on in the other parts of the story we find out who Francis really did meet. In this part of the story, it doesn't matter. Francis, finds a hidden stash of papers, books, and other relics that might have been Leibowitz's. Here is more criteria to offer for the postulation for the cause of canonization of Leibowitz. Francis is sent to New Rome to bring a blueprint signed by Leibowitz; proof for consideration of sainthood. Francis witnesses the canonization.
On his way to New Rome he is accosted by bandits. Evidently, the land is riddled with bandits and bad people. They steal a blue print and the hand copy of the blue print. Since the copy was copied with gold ink and decorated with fancy doodads, the bandits thought it was more valuable and kept it. They gave back Leibowitz's relic. When Francis told them that it took 12 years to copy the original, the bandits said he could buy it back for two heklos of gold. Providentially, the pope gives Francis the ransom. Unfortunately, Francis is killed by the bandits on his way back. That's the end of the first section.
In section two, we meet Thorn Taddeo. Thorn seems to be a title for honor or some sort of distinction. Taddeo thinks the monks are hoarding their knowledge and hence obstructing advancement because the monks won't send their Leibowitz reference material out of the monastery. Interesting, the monks are preserving knowledge and Taddeo accuses them of hoarding it for themselves, alone. So, petulantly, Taddeo goes to study at the monastery. The monks, because of their protected accumulated reference materials, have learned to make electricity. Needless to say, Taddeo is impressed.
Also, another character appears--maybe not. He is known as the Poet. At times, I thought he could be the man Francis saw. There's also a hermit hanging around the monastery. He's a Jewish hermit. The poet and the hermit don't affect the story; they add commentary.
Lastly, the time is the future. Space ship transportation is not new. In fact, a war where nuclear bombs exploding in outer space seem to have occurred. The land and its people, including the monks, are suffering from radiation.
For me, this section held the most interest. There is a lady living in a village near the monastery. Mrs. Grales has two heads (radiation effects). She calls her second head, her child. She's always pestering the priest monks to baptize her daughter, Rachel. The reason they won't was a catechetical lesson for me. The abbot won't baptize because women aren't allowed in the monastery and the ministry really belongs to a parish where sacraments are recorded. Mrs. Grales said the parish priest wouldn't baptize Rachel. The description of Rachel explains why a priest wouldn't baptize her. It's questionable whether the growth on Mrs. Grales' shoulder was even alive, never mind human. No one wanted to hurt Mrs. Grales' feelings and tell her that she was crazy and that thing she called her daughter wasn't even a human being.
Also, an important catechetical episode involves the abbot and a doctor. Everyone is suffering from the effects of radiation. The monastery is open to the public for succor. The doctors are treating people the best they can. Those that are beyond hope for recovery, are sent for euthanasia. The abbot opposes this and the arguments between the head doctor and the abbot are interesting. Even more so when you consider that the author, Walter M. Miller, Jr., commits suicide at the age of 73.
The reader also indirectly picks up the importance of apostolic succession. The abbot foresees the destruction of earth and sends the following out to alpha centuri or somewhere else. The monks are on a mission to evangelize wherever they land. Hence, on board were no novices. Only essential people needed for colonization: scholars, janitor, cook, priests, bishops and cardinals--to secure apostolic succession. You need bishops to ordain other priests. Of course, the memorabilia from the monastery were on board the spaceship. It takes off successfully.
The monastery was not so lucky. An atomic blast blew the monastery up. The abbot, before he dies, runs to the chapel's tabernacle and takes out the ciborium containing the Eucharistic hosts. Everything collapses. The abbot is stuck under rubble. Before he dies, Mrs. Grales, or rather her daughter finds the abbot. Mrs. Grales' head is dead, but the daughter's is alive. The abbot baptizes her conditionally. She opens the ciborium and gives communion to the abbot. She then very reverently closes the ciborium and places it securely under some rocks.
The novel ends with the last monk entering the space ship. Before he closes the door, he takes off his sandals and slaps the soles together. "Sic transit mundus," he says. Luke 9: 5.
