Inspired by the science fiction classic novel A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, in which a religious order preserves the knowledge of a pre-nuclear holocaust world, a small group of college students, headed by Baptist Minister Gerald F. Foster, founded the Order of St. Leibowitz in Mount Vernon, Ohio early in 1986.
Dedicated to collecting and preserving pre-war knowledge of any sort, they soon found themselves overwhelmed by the task. Most of their fellow people were totally engrossed in the problems of survival to pay any attention to the price they would pay later for what they were neglecting. Members of the order wept to watch libraries being burned to keep people warm over the winter. Slowly, all too slowly, the order grew, recruiting new members as it went and creating new missions. These missions turned into havens for knowledge, little centers of learning in a growing sea of ignorance.
By the early 2030s, the order had spread across the Midwest, where it was threatened by the rapid expansion of the Islamic state, which had made the Missions of St. Leibowitz a favorite target. Islamic raiders plundered the libraries to weaken their opponents technological capabilities and steal the repositories of learning for themselves. The order extended its missions down the Mississippi River Valley into UKA territory, where the Brothers and Sisters found themselves in a more congenial environment. By 2038, it seemed inevitable that the Midwest would be overrun, so the order moved as much of its archived material from its scattered missions in the threatened areas to safety in Lake Keaton, Louisiana Province. In 2042, while the city was under siege by an Islamic Army, the archives were again moved, this time to Fall River, Massachusetts, where it remains today. The Order founded the University of St. Leibowitz in Fall River in 2045.
The order is very loosely organized, as this was found to be the easiest way of coping with the varied conditions in which it operated, as well as the wide variety of backgrounds from which its members came. Each Mission is a separate entity, headed by a minister and assisted by several lay Brothers and Sisters, who act as teachers, healers, and librarians. The missions are usually surrounded by stockades in more dangerous areas to act a places of refuge, and include a library, chapel, dormitory, guest quarters, and a small clinic.
Missions are grouped by area into synods of 5-10 missions each. The synod missions are larger, include a secondary school, a much larger library and hospital, and in the more settled regions, a small print shop.
The head minister of the synod mission, the Elder, is the organizational chief of the synod, spiritual advisor, and educator of his synod. The order tends to be quite egalitarian and Elders have to rule by consensus, as each mission has a mission council that sets policy, and each mission sends a representative to a synod council every three months. These councils have the power to remove offending elders.
Every year the Synod councils send a representative to a Grand Conclave, which currently meets at the St. Leibowitzz University at Fall River, Massachusetts. The body sets policy for the order as a whole, and has the sole power to ordain new ministers. It also sets up and approves officials for the university.
Each year each mission sends a small tithe to the synods, both to support that place and to pass on to support the university.
While overtly a Christian organization, the order ministers to all faiths. Its overriding concern is the preservation of knowledge, and it welcomes sincere scholars of any faith. Any mission's library is usually open to all, as long as that individual respects the archival material and their fellow scholars.
The collections in the mission archives varied for the brothers collect EVERY sort of pre-1985 printed material. Since many of the Brothers and Sisters are poorly educated, the archives in many missions are virtually useless. In recent years, the Grand Conclave has sent teams of scholars to catalog the collections, but this is a task that will take decades.
