A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller [47]
Upon the hallowed silence burst a sudden peal of trumpets.
The sound’s intensity mounted until the throbbing Ta-ra Ta-ra-raa could be felt upon one’s face and grew painful to the ears. The voice of the trumpets was not musical but annunciatory. The first notes began in mid-scale, then climbed slowly in pitch, intensity, and urgency, until the monk’s scalp crawled, and there seemed to be nothing at all in the basilica but the explosion of the tubas.
Then, dead silence-followed by the cry of a tenor:
FIRST CANTOR: “Appropinquat agnis pastor et ovibus pascendis.”
SECOND CANTOR: “Genua nunc flectantur omnia.”
FIRST CANTOR: “Jussit olim Jesus Petrum pascere gregem Domini.”
SECOND CANTOR: “Ecce Petrus Pontifex Maximus.”
FIRST CANTOR: “Gaudeat igitur populus Christi, et gratias agat Domino.”
SECOND CANTOR: “Nam docebimur a Spiritu sancto.”
CHOIR: “Alleluia, alleluia-”
The crowd arose and then knelt in a slow wave that followed the movement of the chair containing the frail old man in white who gestured his blessings to the people as the gold, black, purple, and red procession moved him slowly toward the throne. Breath kept choking up in the throat of the small monk from a distant abbey in a distant desert. It was impossible to see everything that was happening, so overwhelming was the tide of music and motion, drowning one’s senses and sweeping the mind along willy-nilly toward that which was soon to come.
The ceremony was brief. Its intensity would have become unendurable had it been longer. A monsignor-Malfreddo Aguerra, the Saint’s advocate himself, Brother Francis observed-approached the throne and knelt. After a brief silence, he voiced his plea in plain chant.
“Sancte pater, ab Sapientia summa petimus ut ille Beatus Leibowitz cujus miracula mirati sunt multi…”
The request called upon Leo to enlighten his people by solemn definition concerning the pious belief that the Beatus Leibowitz was indeed a saint, worthy of the dulia of the Church as well as the veneration of the faithful.
“Gratissima Nobis causa, fili,” the voice of the old man in white sang in response, explaining that his own heart’s desire was to announce by solemn proclamation that the blessed Martyr was among the saints, but also that it was by divine guidance alone, sub ducatu sancti Spititus, that he might comply with Aguerra’s request. He asked all to pray for that guidance.
Again the thunder of the choir filled the basilica with the Litany of the Saints: “Father-of-Heaven, God, have mercy on us. Son, Repurchaser-of-the-World, God, have mercy on us. Ghost-Most-Holy, God, have mercy on us. O Sacred Three-foldhood, God-One-and-Only, miserere nobis! Holy Mary, pray for us. Sancta Dei Genitrix, ora pro nobis. Sancta Virgo virginum, ora pro nobis…” The thunder of the litany continued. Francis looked up at a painting of the Blessed Leibowitz, newly unveiled. The fresco was of heroic proportions. It portrayed the trial of the Beatus before the mob, but the face was not wryly smiling as it smiled in Fingo’s work. It was, however, majestic, Francis thought, and in keeping with the rest of the basilica.
“Omnes sancti Martyres, orate pro nobis…”
When the litany was finished, again Monsignor Malfreddo Aguerra made his plea to the Pope, asking that the name of Isaac Edward Leibowitz be formally enrolled in the Calendar of Saints. Again the guiding Spirit was invoked, as the Pope chanted the Veni, Creator Spiritus.
And yet a third time Malfreddo Aguerra pleaded for the proclamation.
“Surgat ergo Petros ipse…”
At last it came. The twenty-first Leo intoned the decision of the Church, rendered under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, proclaiming the existing