Book 2 toppled – a story of faith, humanity and devotion

Willa Cather is an author I often see recommended, especially by American readers. She wrote towards the beginning of the twentieth century and her works are considered to be modern classics. I saw Death Comes for the Archbishop in a charity shop somewhere in the last year or so and picked it up so that I could finally read one of this author’s books. This challenge is designed to encourage me to read the books that I have accumulated in this way and that I often allow to remain unread for long periods of time.

This story is set in New Mexico during the middle to late nineteenth century. The territory has become an American state but it is still undeveloped and lawless. The Roman Catholic Church makes a decision to create a new diocese and to appoint a bishop, later an archbishop, to consolidate the work of previous missionaries and to create a thriving religious community in the area. Frenchmen Bishop Latour and his friend Father Joseph have been working in America but are now chosen to lead this work. The book follows their activities from their appointment to the death of the archbishop, in old age.

The author tells the story in a series of episodes, which read like a collection of short stories with many of the same characters. She shows how the two men seek to minister to the existing Roman Catholic congregations which are mainly Spanish, the indigenous peoples of the area and the American people who come into the land looking for opportunities. Each little tale is finely crafted and beautifully written and they build together into a story of change and growth in a landscape which is not always welcoming.

The author obviously loves the area and her descriptions of the beauty of the landscape are a very important part of the book and make a fitting setting for the lifelong work of two devoted men. Neither the author nor any of her characters treats one group of people more favourably than another and the indigenous people are shown with due respect to their heritage and long inhabitation of the region. The two Frenchmen are depicted as kind and hardworking and often contrasted with others who are exploitative and oppressive.

The book is about service and devotion to God but also about friendship, duty and progress. It strikes a hopeful note and reflects a positive view of the Roman Catholic church hierarchy. I really had to compare it in my mind with Graham Greene’s book Monsignor Quixote (see my review here) which I have read recently and which is also about devotion, faith and friendship in a beautiful landscape. Despite the similarity of the themes the authors tell very different tales – I found both of them to be fantastic reads.

This book is now on my shelf of favourite books which I keep in anticipation of reading them again one day – this does not help my desire to dispose of many physical books and nor does the fact that I intend to acquire other books by this author to see if I enjoy them as much as I did this one.