Saint Leibowitz and Reflections on Bio-Chemical Warfare at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century

Miller Walter M. Jr. Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman, New York: Bantam, 1997, pp. 363–4.

David Cowart, “Walter M. Miller., Jr.” in David Cowart, and Wymer Thomas L. , eds. Twentieth Century American Science-Fiction Writers Part 2: M-Z, part of Dictionary of Literary Biography. Volume 8. Detroit: A Burccoli Clark Book, Gale Research Company, 1981, p. 25.

The four horsemen are found in the Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle: Apoc. 6 1-8. The commentator of the Douay Rhiems Version of the Bibile, revised by Bishop Richard Challoner, gives this interpretation: “He that sitteth on the white horse is Christ, going forth to subdue the world by his gospel. The other horses that follow represent the judgments and punishment that were to fall on the enemies of Christ and his church. The red horse signifies war; the black horse, famine; and the pale horse (which has Death for its rider), plagues or pestilence.” Note at chapter six, verse two. Tan Publishers edition (Rockford, IL), page 283. Regarding this. cf. Apoc. 19: 11-16 which states that the rider of the white horse is called “Faithful and True,” a christic title. “And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and his name is called THE WORD OF GOD” (verse 13). The four horsemen make their debut in the Old Testament. Cf. Zecharias 1: 8-10 and 6: 1-3. The horse (and the white horseman) are the subject of the Church. “In the Church's symbolism in medieval times, at least in the West, the mounted horse represented Jesus Christ, God and man, the animal corresponding to his humanity and the rider to his divinity …Babnus Maurus, the ninth-century Archbishop of Mainz … said that the white horse of the Apocalypse represents the humanity of Christ whose radiance extends over every blessed being: Equus est humanitas Christi: ut in Acpocalypti, Ecce equus albus Id est, caro Christi omni Sanctificate fulgens. “The color of the horse's coat was also given a special meaning in the mysticism and heremeticism of the Middle Ages: the white horse is ridden by the virgin heroes of spotless conscience, and also by the glorious saints. When it carries Christ it presents him as the victorious king ruling over the world, hell, and death in an atmosphere of triumphant apotheosis… “Of the four mounted horses appearing in the terror of this vision Christian symbolism (Apoc. 6) has kept only the first, the white horse, as the image of the victorious Christ. Astride his white steed, he carries a bow, and this projecting weapon, along with its accompanying arrow, in the literary symbolism of the holy scriptures, stands for the Word of the Lord… “Christian symbology also, when it looked on the dark side of the horse, made it an image of Satan, the Lord of Evil; St. Augustine already in the fourth century saw in it one of the personifications of pride; St. Gregory looked upon it as the symbol of impurity and of a disorderly life, and St. Jerome agreed and made the horse the representative of men ‘who whinny after the wives of others.’ This explains the strange compositions of Romanesque art which show the man-horse for the woman-mare in the series picturing the demons of the deadly sins.” (Louis Charbonneau-Lassay, The Bestiary of Christ, Translated and abridged by D.M. Dooling. New York: Parabola Books, 1940 and 1991, pp. 98-103, passim.).

See. for example: Coordinator Robert Shuey Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons and Ballistic Missiles: The State of Proliferation. Washington, D.C., Congressional Research Services, The Library of Congress, December 21, 1998. Dianne E. Rennack, Nuclear, Biological, Chemical and Missile Proliferation Sanctions: Selected Current Law, Washington. D.C., Congressional Research Services. The Library of Congress., May 27, 1998. In this report, it is clearly stated that “Weapons of mass destruction include ‘any biological agent, toxin or vector.’” (page 2) Woolf Amy F. , Coordinator , Arms Control and Nonproliferation Activities: A Catalog of Recent Events, Washington, D.C., Congressional Research Services. The Library of Congress, January 4, 1999.

Landau Flaine Chemical and Biological Waifare. New York: Ladestar Books, 1991, pages 51ff, Passim.

Landau Flaine Chemical and Biological Waifare. New York: Ladestar Books, 1991, page 52.

Landau Flaine , Here she cites: Julian Perry Robinson, “The Changing Status of Chemical and Biological Warfare in World Armaments and Disarmament,” SIPRI Yearbook (1982), page 318. Interestingly, the United States of American was not a signatory of this treaty, as the military leadership did not favor restricting the freedom to use such weapons.

Landau Flaine , Here she cites: Julian Perry Robinson, “The Changing Status of Chemical and Biological Warfare in World Armaments and Disarmament,” SIPRI Yearbook (1982), page 318. Interestingly, the United States of American was not a signatory of this treaty, as the military leadership did not favor restricting the freedom to use such weapons., 52–3.

Landau Flaine , Here she cites: Julian Perry Robinson, “The Changing Status of Chemical and Biological Warfare in World Armaments and Disarmament,” SIPRI Yearbook (1982), page 318. Interestingly, the United States of American was not a signatory of this treaty, as the military leadership did not favor restricting the freedom to use such weapons., 54.

Taylor C.L. , and Taylor L.B. Jr. Chemical and Biological Warfare (Revised Edition), New York: Franklin Watts, 1992. page 30.

Landau , op. cit. 54–5.

Landau , op. cit. 54–5.

Austin Fagothey. S.J. Rights and Reason: Ethics in Theory and Practice, Fifth Edition, St. Louis: The C.V. Mosby Company, 1972, page 394.

Summa Theologice II-II q. 40, Following St. Thomas's categorization, later scholastic, neo-scholastic and manualist theologians will treat the subject of war under sins against Charity, as will be noted of Father Suárez. below.

This quotation is actually not from St. Augustine, as the Angelic Doctor thought, but rather is from the Decretum Gratiani, the medieval collection of Canon Law, pt. II, causa 23, q. I, canon 6.

ST II-II40. lc. passim.

Father Suárez lived 1548-1617. His honorific title is “doctor eximius.” “He was born in Granada, studied canon law at Salamanca. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1564. Throughout his busy career teaching philosophy and theology, he taught at Segovia, Avila, Valladolid, Rome, Alcalá, Salamanca, and Coimbra. His works fill 23 volumes in early editions, and 28 volumes in the Paris edition of 1856-78.” Father Frederick Copleston, S.J., A History of Philosophy: Volume III (Ockam to Suárez). New York: Doubleday. page 353.

Copleston. op. cit., 403.

Here mention should be made that throughout the Renaissance, there was ongoing dispute about the jurisdiction of the pope in civil societies. This question was of increasing importance as “new worlds” were being discovered, and international law (and economics) had to be developed and refined, as well as enshrined in treaty and legal doctrine, both canon and civil. Even apart from the issues of the Protestant Reformers, the Papacy was a force to be reckoned with. Many of the theologians of this period, both in Italy and Spain, expended an enormous effort to bring charity to this issue. St. Robert Bellarmine, of the Society of Jesus, was an articulate expositor on this topic, not always in a manner that was most pleasing to the occupant of the Throne of St. Peter. “In his Defense of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith Suárez discusses and rejects the view that the pope possesses not only supreme spiritual power but also supreme civil power with the consequence that no purely temporal sovereign possesses supreme power in temporal affairs. He appeals to utterances of popes, and then goes on to argue that no just title can be discovered whereby the pope possesses direct jurisdiction in temporal affairs over all Christian states. And without a just title he cannot possess such jurisdiction… There is no evidence that either divine or human law has conferred such jurisdiction on the pope.” Copleston, op. cit. 402.

Here mention should be made that throughout the Renaissance, there was ongoing dispute about the jurisdiction of the pope in civil societies. This question was of increasing importance as “new worlds” were being discovered, and international law (and economics) had to be developed and refined, as well as enshrined in treaty and legal doctrine, both canon and civil. Even apart from the issues of the Protestant Reformers, the Papacy was a force to be reckoned with. Many of the theologians of this period, both in Italy and Spain, expended an enormous effort to bring charity to this issue. St. Robert Bellarmine, of the Society of Jesus, was an articulate expositor on this topic, not always in a manner that was most pleasing to the occupant of the Throne of St. Peter. “In his Defense of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith Suárez discusses and rejects the view that the pope possesses not only supreme spiritual power but also supreme civil power with the consequence that no purely temporal sovereign possesses supreme power in temporal affairs. He appeals to utterances of popes, and then goes on to argue that no just title can be discovered whereby the pope possesses direct jurisdiction in temporal affairs over all Christian states. And without a just title he cannot possess such jurisdiction… There is no evidence that either divine or human law has conferred such jurisdiction on the pope.” Copleston, op. cit. 402., 403.

Here mention should be made that throughout the Renaissance, there was ongoing dispute about the jurisdiction of the pope in civil societies. This question was of increasing importance as “new worlds” were being discovered, and international law (and economics) had to be developed and refined, as well as enshrined in treaty and legal doctrine, both canon and civil. Even apart from the issues of the Protestant Reformers, the Papacy was a force to be reckoned with. Many of the theologians of this period, both in Italy and Spain, expended an enormous effort to bring charity to this issue. St. Robert Bellarmine, of the Society of Jesus, was an articulate expositor on this topic, not always in a manner that was most pleasing to the occupant of the Throne of St. Peter. “In his Defense of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith Suárez discusses and rejects the view that the pope possesses not only supreme spiritual power but also supreme civil power with the consequence that no purely temporal sovereign possesses supreme power in temporal affairs. He appeals to utterances of popes, and then goes on to argue that no just title can be discovered whereby the pope possesses direct jurisdiction in temporal affairs over all Christian states. And without a just title he cannot possess such jurisdiction… There is no evidence that either divine or human law has conferred such jurisdiction on the pope.” Copleston, op. cit. 402., 404.

Here mention should be made that throughout the Renaissance, there was ongoing dispute about the jurisdiction of the pope in civil societies. This question was of increasing importance as “new worlds” were being discovered, and international law (and economics) had to be developed and refined, as well as enshrined in treaty and legal doctrine, both canon and civil. Even apart from the issues of the Protestant Reformers, the Papacy was a force to be reckoned with. Many of the theologians of this period, both in Italy and Spain, expended an enormous effort to bring charity to this issue. St. Robert Bellarmine, of the Society of Jesus, was an articulate expositor on this topic, not always in a manner that was most pleasing to the occupant of the Throne of St. Peter. “In his Defense of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith Suárez discusses and rejects the view that the pope possesses not only supreme spiritual power but also supreme civil power with the consequence that no purely temporal sovereign possesses supreme power in temporal affairs. He appeals to utterances of popes, and then goes on to argue that no just title can be discovered whereby the pope possesses direct jurisdiction in temporal affairs over all Christian states. And without a just title he cannot possess such jurisdiction… There is no evidence that either divine or human law has conferred such jurisdiction on the pope.” Copleston, op. cit. 402.

The teaching on the topic of war and peace from the Pontifical Magisterium of the twentieth century alone would constitute a sub-specialty in itself of moral theology.

Washington. D.C., The United States Catholic Conference.

Martino Joseph P. . A Fighting Chance: The Moral Use of Nuclear Weapons, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1988.

Martino Joseph P. . A Fighting Chance: The Moral Use of Nuclear Weapons, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1988.

Martino Joseph P. . A Fighting Chance: The Moral Use of Nuclear Weapons, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1988, 107.

Martino Joseph P. . A Fighting Chance: The Moral Use of Nuclear Weapons, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1988, 107.

Bowman Steven R. op. cit. summary.

Bowman Steven R. , 5f. The convention came into force after sixty-five nations had ratified it. This occurred a month before the United States of America ratified it.

Shuey Robert op. cit page 3.

Woolf Amy F. op. cit., page 47.

Woolf Amy F. op. cit., page 5.

Rennack Dianne E. op. cit., page 9. Vide Public Law 102-182: approved December 4, 1991; 22 U.S.C. 5601-5606. Legislation on Foreign Relations Through 1996, vol. II, p. 1394.

Rennack Dianne E. , page 49. On a more troubling note, see Inglesby Thomas V. M.D. “Anthrax as a Biological Weapon,” JAMA, May 12. 1999. Vol. 28. no. 18. Available on the website of the US Department of Defense.

ZENIT New Agency 8 June 1999. Private correspondence between the author and the Office of the Holy See's Permanent Observer to the United Nations. June 8, 1999.

Miller Walter M. Jr. Canticle for Leibowitz, New York: Bantam. 1997. Pages 214f and 225.

Miller Walter M. Jr. Canticle for Leibowitz, New York: Bantam. 1997. Pages 214f and 225., 33If.