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A Canticle for Leibowitz Trivia Quiz

About the 1959 nuclear doom science fiction classic by Walter M. Miller.

A multiple-choice quiz by jbuck919. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
jbuck919

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
176,663

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
209

Last 3 plays: MargW (2/10), wjames (9/10), Guest 174 (9/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. The three main sections of the book are given Latin titles. Which is the only one from the New Testament? Hint

fiat homo

fiat robigo

fiat lux

fiat voluntas tua

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Question 2 of 10

2. When Brother Francis returns from New Rome after seeing the pope, what happens to him? Hint

He is waylaid by a strange cult that considers him a god.

He is killed for food by savage mutants.

He starves because radiation has killed all the food plants.

Like Odysseus or Moses, he takes many years to reach his destination.

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Question 3 of 10

3. What about fallout shelters inspires fear? Hint

There is an oral tradition that fallout was the cause of all the mutations.

It is believed that a fallout is a strange beast that no one has ever seen.

There is a superstition that one will "fall out" of the shelter into some kind of free-fall to hell.

The shelters contained depictions of exploding missiles which were interpreted as destroyed phalluses.

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Question 4 of 10

4. What tradition about Emily Leibowitz made the monks think they had stumbled on her remains? Hint

One of her arms was shorter than the other from polio.

She had a gold tooth.

She scratched a prayer on the wall of the fallout shelter before she died.

She always carried a rosary.

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Question 5 of 10

5. What is the ironic inside joke about St. Leibowitz's identity? Hint

He never really existed; he was a brand name like Aunt Jemima.

He was actually Brother Francis' ancestor through an illegitimate line.

He was Jewish.

He had led a faction which almost doomed the Catholic church, the only institution to survive the holocaust.

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Question 6 of 10

6. Who is Rachel? Hint

The kitchen girl who seduces Brother Francis (this was stolen for "The Name of the Rose.")

The second head of an old mutant woman.

The new Eve when the world is destroyed for a second time by a nuclear holocaust.

Leibowitz' illegitimate child, whose discovery eliminates the possibility of him being canonized.

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Question 7 of 10

7. The action of part of the book takes place in a country named after what unlikely US city? Hint

Pensacola

Texarkana

Walla-Walla

Oshkosh

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Question 8 of 10

8. This is not a high-tech sci fi novel, but there is one interesting technology in part three which is not too far-fetched in our time. What is it? Hint

A medical procedure for restoring mutants to genetic normality.

Harnessing of seismic energy.

Complete reclamation of the desert for agriculture.

A computer telephone operator that can translate a message into any language.

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Question 9 of 10

9. As history is about to repeat itself with a second nuclear holocaust, how does the monastery react? Hint

A select few board a spaceship and head for Alpha Centauri.

The monks disperse because they have all been conscripted.

The monks huddle in their monastery repeating the rosary.

One mad monk blows the monastery up so they will not have to witness the end.

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Question 10 of 10

10. Miller is famous only for this book. However, more than thirty years later, he did bring a companion book to near completion. What was it called? Hint

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

The Fifth Horseman

St. Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

Apocalypse Redux Reductis

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Most Recent Scores

Nov 12 2024 : MargW: 2/10
Nov 12 2024 : wjames: 9/10
Sep 30 2024 : Guest 174: 9/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The three main sections of the book are given Latin titles. Which is the only one from the New Testament?

Answer: fiat voluntas tua

"Fiat voluntas tua" means "your will be done" and is from the Lord's Prayer, which is found in the Gospel of Matthew. "Fiat lux" means "let there be light" and is from Genesis. "Fiat homo" means "let there be man," and is not from the Bible. "Fiat robigo" means "let there be mildew," and I just made it up. I thought old fans of the book like myself might enjoy having this explained.

2. When Brother Francis returns from New Rome after seeing the pope, what happens to him?

Answer: He is killed for food by savage mutants.

Brother Francis had been in New Rome, which is clearly on the North American continent, to give the pope his illuminated copy of a work of St. Leibowitz. It was an engineering schematic.

3. What about fallout shelters inspires fear?

Answer: It is believed that a fallout is a strange beast that no one has ever seen.

The only strange beasts were the "sports," or mutants, who inhabited the land.

4. What tradition about Emily Leibowitz made the monks think they had stumbled on her remains?

Answer: She had a gold tooth.

The monks kept a piece of incunabula which was supposed to be Leibowitz's shopping list for "Emma" or Emily, his wife.

5. What is the ironic inside joke about St. Leibowitz's identity?

Answer: He was Jewish.

His name was Isaac Edward Leibowitz, and he shops for pastrami and bagels. Also, Miller makes a big deal out of another character, Lazarus, who is apparently the Jewish character of that name from the Gospel of John, still alive because when Jesus raised them, they stay raised.

6. Who is Rachel?

Answer: The second head of an old mutant woman.

It might be nice to grow replacement heads the way sharks never run out of teeth.

7. The action of part of the book takes place in a country named after what unlikely US city?

Answer: Texarkana

Evidently there was some re-drawing of political boundaries after the first holocaust.

8. This is not a high-tech sci fi novel, but there is one interesting technology in part three which is not too far-fetched in our time. What is it?

Answer: A computer telephone operator that can translate a message into any language.

The operator translates a message in Latin!

9. As history is about to repeat itself with a second nuclear holocaust, how does the monastery react?

Answer: A select few board a spaceship and head for Alpha Centauri.

The ship contains the means to continue not only civilization but also the Catholic Church, which in the novel represents the only continuity.

10. Miller is famous only for this book. However, more than thirty years later, he did bring a companion book to near completion. What was it called?

Answer: St. Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

The book was unfinished when Miller took his own life. It was completed by Terry Bisson and published in 1997.

Source: Author jbuck919

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