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| Death Comes for the Archbishop (Vintage Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Willa Cather
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $11.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (95 reviews)
Sales Rank: 24897
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.5
ISBN: 0679728899
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780679728894
ASIN: 0679728899
Publication Date: June 16, 1990
Release Date: June 16, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Simple, graceful, magnificent June 22, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
From the opening pages in Rome, to the closing chapter in New Mexico, this is a novel about how time and place mold us, and how we, in turn, with dedication and love, can mold a place ourselves. It is a rare novel that never draws attention to itself, but meanders with the finality of a river running to a deep water ocean. Omnia mutantar nihil interit as they say. By the time you reach the final pages you'll be able to look back on the life of the Bishop with a clearer understanding of what it means to dedicate one's life to a single moral purpose and how to love a people and a place without judgement, but with hope and discipline.
When Priests Were Revered, Not Reviled [61][89][T] June 15, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Willa Cather was born in 1873, and the majority of the adventures of this book would coincide with the pioneering peers of her parents. The protagonist of this book is French born and American bound priest/Bishop: Father Latour whose adventures occur from the middle 19th century to 1888.
The priesthood was relished and loved in those days. Latour is a calming and placable fellow. He is honest as the day is long. He is, unlike others around him, celibate and obedient to the church - whether its laws be appropriate or not.
The amount of traveling on mules, the hard adventures to other civilizations and cultures, and the torrid natural elements fighting the priests are seemingly insurmountable. But, the priest, who becomes a bishop who later becomes an archbishop, lasts like the Energizer Bunny. He keeps moving, well beyond his retirement years. Having traveled to and fro by the least rapid of transportation modes.
Latour may be outdone by comrade Joseph Valliant - who is called Father Joseph or Father Vaillant in the book. That man, small in size and thin as a rail, never stays put. On order by his comrade, he ventures about in nomadic style preaching to the Indians and Mexicans, delivering sacrament and church baptism and other rites to better their souls. And, in certain passages, the intellectual Latour - who sees Valliant as his closest and best friend - acknowledges his friend's superior constitution and abilities. Each has a strength and weakness. But, overall, the Bishop sees Vaillant as the superior man of the cloth.
I admit this book impressed me in that there is little discussion of women. Instead, it is a tale. A greatly told tale. Of men in a man's world. And, all written by a woman. The ability to cross gender lines always impresses me - like Arthur Golden's "Memoirs of a Geisha", Iris Murdoch's "Under the Net", or even Alexander McCall Smith's "Ladies' Detective Agency" series.
This was one of those books assigned to my parents as required reading. And, I am sure it was read, but with some disrespect to the teacher who made the assignment. Even though Kit Carson is referred to in the book, there is nothing exciting about what he does within the pages to lure the attention of young boys.
Although it is about priests in the virginal new land, this book is without obfuscation, without much symbolism, without most of literature's cute tools. This is a tale, this is allegory, this is fine story telling. Something which was more common in the time that this book was written and something which is unfortunately becoming less common today.
Enduring Tale of Faith and the Frontier March 21, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Willa Cather's self-described narrative, "Death Comes for the Archbishop" tells the story of the Southwestern U.S. at the middle of the 19th century, and the epic story of two Catholic priests who transformed it. Cather changes style from a traditional novel and tells her story in a detached, biographical manner, yet she manages to capture the aura and beauty of the Southwest and its people.
At the onset of the novel, a French priest is wandering through the desert, lost and dying of thirst. Yet, a "miracle" happens, as he finds a hidden village with an underground water supply and is saved. Although this may be the first miracle for Jean Latour, his life is full of small miracles which help to transform the native Indians and Mexicans into devout Catholics. Indeed, the miracles that Cather describes through a rich tapestry of legends and stories, are those which happen to the poorest and most destitute in the unforgiving desert. Cather seems to imply that one need not be rich and powerful to be a recipient of one of God's countless miracles.
When Latour first arrives in New Mexico in 1850, the Mexicans and Indian converts have corrupted the Catholic teachings, although they are devout. Indeed, hundreds of years have passed since they've had the rigid conformity of the Catholic church, as the priests currently in place are corrupt and sin-ridden. However, though they may not follow strict Catholic doctrine, the Mexicans are devout and ready to be molded by the right priest. It is Valliant and Latour who prove to be the "shepherds" to these "lost sheep" of God.
Throughout the novel, Jean Latour, who eventually becomes an archbishop, is compared with Joseph Valliant, Latour's colleague and (very) close friend. While Latour is stoic and introverted, Valliant is outgoing and confrontational. In fact, Latour believes that Valliant is the better priest, for despite his ailing health, Valliant braves the elements and brings the desert's inhabitants back to God. And even though he may change dioceses often, he is always up to the challenge, even in the outlaw west of Gold rush Colorado in the 1850s and 1860s. Although they may have different styles, both Latour and Valliant prove irreplaceable as their valiant efforts transform the Southwest into a hotbed of Catholic fervor.
Cather's vivid descriptions of the landscape help to bring this novel to life. Sweeping panoramas and mysterious canyons are brought forth in descriptive, imaginative language. The characters are given extra dimension through past antidotes and tales which give them a more personal, humanistic character. Although this may not quite be Cather's best novel, it is still a captivating tale and should not be missed.
Steely will in the characters and the writing February 5, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is Willa Cather's superb novel about Bishop Jean Latour and his vicar Fr. Joseph Vaillant who come to New Mexico to re-establish the position and authority of the Church which has fallen sadly into neglect. (Both fictional characters are based on the historical Bishop Lamy and Fr. Machebeuf.) Latour, a Jesuit, is chosen by Church officials in Rome for his mission because of his moral fortitude and unbreakable will, and his success comes mainly from his unshakable confidence and quiet example. The evil he must overcome is represented by three old priests in New Mexico, one sodden with greed, another with lust, the third with creature comforts. Both Latour and Vaillant, who inspire each other, perform lasting and important services: building churches, converting the Hopi and Navajo, and providing the spiritual guidance and rock-solid fortitude to keep their communities on the straight and narrow. Cather utilizes a matter-of-fact and sparse style in relating her story; it's a most effective technique, but not very dramatic. Inspiring and noteworthy in every way.
LIFE SNEAKS UP ON THE ARCHBISHOP January 8, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop is habitually underrated by scholars of the American novel. While it lacks the compelling story of other of Cather's works, such as My Antonia, Death is a subtle episodic work that sneaks up on the reader both intellectually and emotionally under the radar.
A chronicle of the career of the first missionary Catholic bishop of New Mexico, the novel blends subtle description with a narrative style that might be characterized as third person travel diary. Symbolically, the travails of Bishop Latour and Father Vaillant are an abbreviated version of the history of the Roman Catholic church and, more broadly, the spread of Christianity itself. The opening description of the Bishop's wandering in the desert may be compared to Christ's forty days in the wilderness, and the cathedral Bishop Latour wants to raise is a projection of the spread of the Catholic faith in New Mexico territory.
The Bishop symbolizes the contemplative bent of the Church and the Thomistic tradition, while Father Vaillant represents the other aspect of Catholicism, its missionary zeal in the New World. The setting of the book is a microcosm of the world itself, desperately in need of salvation yet capable of bestowing, as Bishop Latour comes to realize, the gift of renewal and youth impossible in the more structured and jaded Old World, as in the prologue set in the Vatican.
The rather mysterious title of the novel underscores one of its major thematic preoccupations: that we live in a state of constant interaction with life as it comes to us while still trying to maintain in our minds a picture of life as we would like it to be. The Bishop's story is told as a series of vignettes: our lives are made up of the small, commonplace, daily events we encounter. As the Bishop himself observes, he dies of having lived his life, an emphasis on the limited span of our lives and the manner in which we approach the challenges we encounter.
This is a worthwhile read and a commendable exercise in subtlety. The scope of Cather's historical research is impressive.
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