| Death Comes for the Archbishop | |
|---|---|
 1st edition cover |
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| Author | Willa Cather |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Vintage Classics |
| Publication date | 1927 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 300 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
Death Comes for the Archbishop is a 1927 novel by Willa Cather. It concerns the attempts of a Catholic bishop and a priest to establish a diocese in New Mexico Territory.
The novel was included on Time Magazine's 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005[1] as well as the Modern Library's list of the 100 Best Novels.
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Plot summary
The primary character is Bishop Jean Marie Latour, who travels alone from Cincinnati to New Mexico to take charge of the newly established diocese of New Mexico, which has only just become a territory of the United States. He is later assisted by his childhood friend Father Joseph Vaillant. The names given to the main proponents reflect their characters. Vaillant, valiant, is fearless in his promulgation of the faith, whereas Latour, the tower, is more intellectual and reserved than his comrade.
At the time of his departure, Cincinnati is the end of the railway line west, so Latour must travel by riverboat to the Gulf of Mexico, and thence overland to New Mexico, a journey which takes an entire year. He spends the rest of his life establishing the Roman Catholic church in New Mexico, where he dies in old age.
The novel is notable for its portrayal of two well-meaning and devout French priests who encounter a well-entrenched Spanish-Mexican clergy they are sent to supplant when the United States acquired New Mexico and the Vatican, in turn, remapped its dioceses.
Several of these entrenched priests are depicted in classic manner as examples of greed, avarice and gluttony, while others live simple, abstemious lives among the Indians. Cather portrays the Hopi and Navajo sympathetically, and her characters express the near futility of overlaying their religion on a millennia-old native culture. Cather's vivid landscape descriptions are also memorable. A scene where a priest and his Indian guide take cover in an ancient cave during a blizzard is especially memorable for its superb portrayal of the combined forces of nature and culture.
Allusions to other works
- Literature is mentioned with James Fenimore Cooper, Blaise Pascal, Saint Augustine, and Mme de Sévigné.
- Music is mentioned with Giuseppe Verdi, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Stephen Foster.
- Painting is mentioned with El Greco, Raphael, Titian, Jean-Georges Vibert, and La Tour.
Allusions to actual history
- The novel is based on the life of Jean-Baptiste Lamy, and partially chronicles the construction of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
- Historical figures such as Popé, the Penitentes, Pope Gregory XVI, John C. Frémont, Kit Carson, and Saint Paul are mentioned.
- Historical events such as the War in Italy, Bosque Redondo, and Pike's Peak Gold Rush are also mentioned.
References
- "The Ideology of Cather’s Catholic Progressivism: Death Comes for the Archbishop" by Guy Reynolds, from Cather Studies, vol. 3 (1996)
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