This book about nuclear holocaust is written in 3 sections; Fiat Homo (Let There Be Man), Fiat Lux (Let There Be Light) and Fiat Voluntas Tua (Thy Will Be Done). The "Flame Deluge" (i.e. nuclear holocaust) has occurred at a time identified as being the "twilight of the Age of Enlightenment" and is already six centuries in the past as the story opens in the first section. The author clearly meant to imply that this event happened as a result of Cold War tensions at the time of his writing of the story, referring to a question by scholars in his story as to who occupied the "White Castle" during the "60s" just prior to the nuclear holocaust.
The main character of this section is Brother Francis Gerard of Utah, a novice of the Catholic Albertian (named for Magnus Albertus, teacher of St. Thomas and patron saint of scientists) Order of Liebowitz whose Abbey is located in the southwestern desert (apparently near Los Alamos, not coincidently). The Order had been founded by a weapons engineer named Leibowitz before being hung by the post-Deluge mob during the time of "Simplification" along with all the other men of learning for their presumed role in the catastrophe.
One main theme is the "sacralization" of knowledge in the absense of science. The Abbey's prized artifacts are the blessed blueprint, the sacred shopping list and the holy shrine of Fallout Shelter. The monks have very little idea as to the meaning of these writings and artifacts, but nonetheless make it their lives' work to preserve them as sacred texts for some future time when they may be understood. The implication is that most/all writings considered sacred by religion are merely ancient writings not well understood today and that, given sufficient knowledge, could become demystified commonplaces of natural science at some point in the future.
When Brother Francis stumbles upon more artifacts of the "blessed" Leibowitz himself in a fallout shelter near the Abbey, the Abbot Dom Arkos is very angry with him, minimizing the importance of the artifacts and especially insisting that Francis' siting of a mysterious travelling man is in no way supernatural. The Abbot wants to squelch any legends of angelic visitation before they get started and has the shelter sealed shortly after. It is later clarified that the reason for these actions is to allow another Order to evaluate the evidence in favor of canonization of Leibowitz and to avoid any conflict of interest in having Arkos' Order be seen as promoting this case (illustrating self-interested Catholic authority squelching valid discovery).
After some years, the Church at New Rome (east of the Abbey) decides to canonize Leibowitz after a long process of court hearings, and Brother Francis is selected to make the long and arduous journey to New Rome to deliver the blessed blueprint, which he does (but not without losing his precious hand-made copy of the artifact to a bandit). Unfortunately, on his way back to the Abbey, Francis is killed by this same bandit.
The author is fond of representing the passage of time from the perspective of the buzzards of the region, repeating often that they "laid their eggs in season and lovingly fed their young." The author adds comically that the buzzard "philosophers" have determined that the supreme being has created the world just for them, since there is always so much to eat. Eventually, in the region of the Red River (near New Rome), a great city-state called Texarkana rises from the prior destruction, leading us to the next section of the book.
The second section opens in the year 3174 amid rumors of war. The emperor Hannegan of Texarkana is plotting a war of conquest against the other major players of the time; the empire of Denver, the Laredan Nation and the Plains nomads. A scholar of his court (and kinsman), Thon Taddeo becomes very interested in the documents being preserved by the Order of Leibowitz. Aware of past accomplishments of technology, he can't convince himself that such a great and wise civilization could destroy itself so completely, leaving only the brutish men he observes in the street from the window of his study at the palace. He toys with the idea of another, more advanced race being the makers of man. After his unsuccessful requests to the Abbey to send him the archives, he eventually makes a visit to the Abbey and is able to see the significance of his find.
The author enjoys portraying the tension (seen to this day) between the faithful, obedient, meekness of the monk scholars vs. the cold, skeptical, hungry and proud attitude of the secular scholars, represented by Thon Taddeo. The Abbot Dom Paulo isn't sure why, but he experiences a vague, undefined dread leading up to meeting Thon Taddeo and exposing his Abbey to the secular world. At their first meeting in the desert, the Thon coldly gazes at Dom Paulo, "studying him as one might study a lifeless curio" (p. 169). The Thon's attitude is condescending from the beginning, and although he comes to sympathize with the monks during his visit, he never agrees to intervene on their behalf. When he leaves the Abbey, they shake hands, but "it was no token of any truce but only of mutual respect between foes."
It turns out that Thon Taddeo has had a loveless childhood and has used his great intellectual abilities as a weapon to humble those who have refused to love him. He views Hannagen's plottings for dominance as undesirable but inevitable and necessary to the support of his greatest goal, the revival of learning and civilization. Dom Paulo can't understand how the Thon can disavow any responsibility for his emperor's acts in this way. This still speaks to us today, as we witness the increasing divergence of the unending quest for knowledge/technology from the moral wisdom to use it properly and contemplate the difference between learning in the service of faith and learning for its own sake or for power.
The third section opens in the year 3781. Spaceships have been developed and nuclear weapons again perfected. There is growing tension between the (unnamed) empire containing Texarkana and the Asian Coalition. When a nuclear explosion destroys a city in the Asian Coalition, it is unclear who is responsible. The Asians claim their enemy is responsible and respond by destroying the city of Texarkana in a nuclear counter-assault. The phrase "Lucifer is Fallen" is used in the last Canticle of the Leibowitz Brethren (thus the title) to warn members of the church to prepare for the likely nuclear holocaust to come.
While secular society's main concern is mercy killing (they set up a clinic just outside the Abbey in the desert to voluntarily "terminate" those with terminal radiation sickness), the church is activating its special plan to lauch a spaceship containing a remnant of 58 scholars, priests, women and children and the precious documents that have been preserved by the Order of Liebowitz. A philosophical and theological climax moment is reached when, during an argument about whether to use the Abbey for secular clinic work, the main secular character, Dr. Cors, claims that "pain's the only evil I know about, its the only one I can fight" (p. 275) and that society is the sole arbiter of right and wrong. Abbot Zerchi later reflects "Dearest God, how did those two heresies get back into the world after all this time". As the book comes to its close, Abbot Zerchi is trapped in the wreckage of the Abbey after a nearby nuclear blast, and the remnant is blasting off for their one-way journey into space.
What's background of author ... Dan thought he was Catholic himself.
From AMZN reviews:
Sadly, the author died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in 1997. This is the grand-daddy of post-nuke novels. Steeped in Catholicism and latin. Philosophical, classic SF. Explores the deep questions; What is Human? Are we doomed to repeat history? Can man overcome his base nature?
This classic tale of nuclear holocaust is written in 3 sections; Fiat Homo (Let There Be Man), Fiat Lux (Let There Be Light) and Fiat Voluntas Tua (Thy Will Be Done). The "Flame Deluge" (i.e. nuclear holocaust) has occurred at the "twilight of the Age of Enlightenment" (i.e. the 1960s) and is already six centuries in the past as the story opens.
In the first section, we meet Brother Francis Gerard of Utah, a novice of the Catholic Albertian (named for Magnus Albertus, teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas and patron saint of scientists) Order of Leibowitz whose abbey is located in the southwestern desert. The Order had been founded by a weapons engineer before he was hanged by the post-Deluge mob during the time of "Simplification" along with all men of learning for their presumed role in the catastrophe. After many (well described) years of routine abbey life, Brother Francis is selected to make the long and arduous journey east on foot to deliver the "blessed blueprint" for the Church's canonization of Leibowitz. Unfortunately, on his way back to the Abbey, he is killed by a bandit.
The author is fond of representing the passage of time from the perspective of the buzzards of the region, repeating often that they "laid their eggs in season and lovingly fed their young." He adds comically that the buzzard "philosophers" have determined that the supreme being has tailored the world to their needs, since there is always so much to eat (perhaps implying similar deficiencies in our own thinking?). Eventually the great city-state Texarkana rises from the prior destruction.
By 3174 (6 centuries later), Texarkana Emperor Hannegan is plotting conquest against the other major powers of the time. A scholar of his court, Thon Taddeo, becomes interested in the Leibowitz documents. When he visits the Abbey, we feel the tension between the faithful, meek obedience of the monk scholars vs. his cold, skeptical, hungry and proud attitude (typical of the secular scholars). Like many seculars, he has had a loveless childhood and has used his great intellect as a weapon to humble those who have refused to love him. He views Hannegan's plottings for dominance as undesirable but inevitable and necessary to the support of his greatest goal, the revival of learning and civilization. Abbot Dom Paulo can't understand how the Thon can justify his emperor's acts in this way. This still speaks to us today, as we witness the moral ambiguity of learning and even civilization.
By 3781 (6 centuries later), spaceships have been developed and nuclear weapons again perfected. There is growing tension between Texarkana's empire and the Asian Coalition. When a nuclear explosion destroys an Asian city, it is unclear who is responsible. The Asians respond by destroying Texarkana in a nuclear counter-assault. The code phrase "Lucifer is Fallen" is used in the last Canticle of the Leibowitz Brethren (thus the title) to warn members of the church to prepare for the likely worldwide nuclear holocaust to come.
In the aftermath of these attacks, the main concern of seculars is mercy killing (they set up a clinic just outside the Abbey in the desert to voluntarily "terminate" those with terminal radiation sickness), while the church is caring for those hurt and activating its special plan to launch a spaceship containing a remnant of 58 scholars, priests, women and children and the precious documents that have been preserved by the Order of Leibowitz. A philosophical and theological climax is reached when, during an argument about whether to use the Abbey for secular clinic work, the main secular character, Dr. Cors, claims that "pain's the only evil I know about, its the only one I can fight" and that society is the sole arbiter of right and wrong. Abbot Zerchi later reflects "Dearest God, how did those two heresies get back into the world after all this time". As the book comes to its close, Abbot Zerchi is trapped in the wreckage of the Abbey after another nearby nuclear blast, and the remnant is lifting off for their one-way journey into space.
The author explores the "sacralization" of knowledge in the absence of science. The Abbey's prized artifacts are the blessed blueprint, the sacred shopping list and the holy shrine of Fallout Shelter. The monks have very little idea as to the meaning of these writings and artifacts, but nonetheless make it their lives' work to preserve them as sacred items for some future time when they may be understood. The implication is that ancient writings considered sacred by religion are merely not well understood today and that, given sufficient knowledge, could become demystified commonplaces of natural science at some point in the future (i.e. an attempt to reconcile faith and reason by elevating reason above faith).
Despite this, it seems likely that the author was a believer (he took his own life in 1997). He displays deep knowledge of and respect for catholicism (latin quotations pervade the story). As he grapples with the question of faith vs. reason, he sees that knowledge isn't enough to solve man's dilemma. All of man's attempts to create order (without God) eventually fail (giving the impression of an endless cycle of creation and destruction as portrayed in the book). A key role of the church is to preserve ancient knowledge during the inevitable dark years (even rediscovering some technical knowledge), but the author doesn't seem to develop the theme that a solution is available to this dilemma. When man admits his own knowledge and abilities are insufficient and seeks God's help, he finds forgiveness, moral insight and guidance, and courage to do what is right.