Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Sibert Cather (April 24-May 2, 2004)
This book is written as a series of episodes from the lives of Bishop Jean Latour and his Vicar, Father Joseph Vaillant. You learn of the childhood origins of their friendship and how the two very different men need and influence one another as they establish their Catholic diocese in New Mexico. Responsible for a vast area, with no roads, trains or set way to travel, the two French priests face many adventures and challenges in their work. Vaillant is charismatic and outgoing, while Latour is more serious and introverted, but both are deeply committed to their work. Isolated in their tasks and goals, both Jean and Joseph are admirable protagonists.
In a mix of different culture, religion, traditions, the vastness of the Southwest is reflected in the narratives. The characters described depict the seven deadly sins in story form. Cather also combines some historical characters with fiction, including Kit Carson as a character. Father Latour first feels other from the land, and plants his orchard to feel at home. In his later years, he appreciates the wilderness itself, choosing to remain in New Mexico instead of returning to die in France. His crisis in faith is moving, as is his longing for his friend, after Vaillant leaves Santa Fe. The building of his cathedral becomes his most prized goal and mark upon the wilderness. Of course, with Willa Cather’s writing you feel as though you are in New Mexico, whether you have ever been there or not.
Favorite Quotes:
"One might almost say that an apparition is human vision corrected by divine love. I do not see you as you really are, Joseph; I see you through my affection for you. The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always."
"These raindrops, Father Latour kept thinking, were the shape of tadpoles, and they broke against his nose and cheeks, exploding with a splash, as if they were hollow and full of air."
"A wave of feeling passed over his bronze features as he said slowly:
'My friend has come.'
That was all, but it was everything; welcome, confidence, appreciation."
"..it was the Indian's way to pass through a country without disturbing anything; to pass and leave no trace, like fish through the water, or birds through the air."
"But Jean, who was at ease in society and always the flower of courtesy, could not form new ties. It had always been so. He was like that even as a boy; gracious to everyone, but known to a very few."
"'...Once that kinship is there, time will only make it stronger.'"
"That air would disappear from the whole earth in time, perhaps; but long after his day. He did not know just when it had become so necessary to him, but he had come back to die in exile for the sake of it. Something soft and wild and free, something that whispered to the ear on the pillow, lightened the heart, softly, softly picked the lock, slid the bolts, and released the prisoned spirit of man into the wind, into the blue and gold, into the morning, into the morning!"
"'To fulfil the dreams of one's youth; that is the best that can happen to a man. No worldly success can take the place of that.'"
