Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Justin Swanton · Post by **Justin Swanton** » Wed March 14th, 2012, 6:14 pm

I have only one word to describe this writer - genius.

I read through the novel convinced that Willa Cather was a Catholic, and a particularly deep and perceptive one. I then looked her up on Wiki and discovered she had been born a Baptist and had become an Episcopalian in 1922. I could hardly believe it. Wiki also described her as 'a resolutely private person'. I could believe that - she had a breadth and penetration of mind that put her completely out of step with the prejudices of her time: her Wild West was not Hollywood's Wild West, her portrayal of Catholicism did not have a trace of Church bashing - Maria Monk et al.

Something else about Willa - she saw right through the western ideal of progress. Read the extract at the end of this review. It struck a chord in me, big time.

The novel itself recounts the life of the first Bishop of Santa Fe, Jean Marie Latour, and his lifelong friend and vicar, Joseph Vaillant, French priests sent to New Mexico shortly after the United States has annexed the territory. The Indians and Mexicans, though still Catholic, have suffered neglect and abuse at the hands of many (but not all) of the local Spanish and Mexican clergy, and the new arrivals have their hands full deposing unworthy priests, and rekindling the Catholic faith of their scattered flock.

The book paints a series of brilliant canvases of the local peoples and their close bond with natural world around them, a bond that is already passing and will soon be gone. The nature and strength of the Faith that keeps Latour and Vaillant on course is portrayed with an intimate familiarity that made me believe the writer was a Catholic.

Thanks, Wendy, for recommending this book to me!

When they left the rock or tree or sand dune that had sheltered them for the night, the Navajo was careful to obliterate every trace of their temporary occupation. He buried the embers of the fire and the remnants of food, unpiled any stones he had piled together, filled up the holes he had scooped in the sand. Since this was exactly Jacinto's procedure, Father Latour judged that, just as it was the white man's way to assert himself in any landscape, to change it, make it over a little (at least to leave some mark of memorial of his sojourn), 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.

It was the Indian manner to vanish into the landscape, not to stand out against it. The Hopi villages that were set upon rock mesas were made to look like the rock on which they sat, were imperceptible at a distance. The Navajo hogans, among the sand and willows, were made of sand and willows. None of the pueblos would at that time admit glass windows into their dwellings. The reflection of the sun on the glazing was to them ugly and unnatural—even dangerous. Moreover, these Indians disliked novelty and change. They came and went by the old paths worn into the rock by the feet of their fathers, used the old natural stairway of stone to climb to their mesa towns, carried water from the old springs, even after white men had dug wells.

In the working of silver or drilling of turquoise the Indians had exhaustless patience; upon their blankets and belts and ceremonial robes they lavished their skill and pains. But their conception of decoration did not extend to the landscape. They seemed to have none of the European's desire to "master" nature, to arrange and re-create. They spent their ingenuity in the other direction; in accommodating themselves to the scene in which they found themselves. This was not so much from indolence, the Bishop thought, as from an inherited caution and respect. It was as if the great country were asleep, and they wished to carry on their lives without awakening it; or as if the spirits of earth and air and water were things not to antagonize and arouse. When they hunted, it was with the same discretion; an Indian hunt was never a slaughter. They ravaged neither the rivers nor the forest, and if they irrigated, they took as little water as would serve their needs. The land and all that it bore they treated with consideration; not attempting to improve it, they never desecrated it.

annis · Post by **annis** » Wed March 14th, 2012, 9:39 pm

I recently read another novel that might appeal to you, Justin - Shusaku Endo's Silence. It's set in seventeenth century Japan, where Portuguese missionaries must contend with traders from rival European nations and the persecution of Christians by Japanese feudal lords. Brilliantly written and impeccably translated.

Endo was a Catholic himself, and his novels often deal with questions of faith and theology. He wrote another novel called The Samurai, about a Japanese samurai who headed a diplomatic mission to the Vatican, travelling through Europe and Mexico in the 17th century. It's based on the remarkable true story of Hasekura Tsunenaga.

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Thu March 15th, 2012, 12:10 am

[quote=""Justin Swanton""]I read through the novel convinced that Willa Cather was a Catholic, and a particularly deep and perceptive one. I then looked her up on Wiki and discovered she had been born a Baptist and had become an Episcopalian in 1922. I could hardly believe it.[/quote]

This comment reminded me of another Catholic novel written by a non-Catholic and made into a film which won its star as Best Actress Oscar...The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel, an Austrian Jew. The book and film tell the story of St. Bernadette of Lourdes. Werfel and his wife were attempting to flee the Nazis and found refuge in Lourdes, France where they were hidden by a number of families. While in Lourdes, they were told the story of Bernadette. Werfel vowed that if he survived, he would tell Bernadette's story and he did so once he reached safety in the United States.

Justin Swanton · Post by **Justin Swanton** » Fri March 16th, 2012, 3:12 pm

[quote=""annis""]I recently read another novel that might appeal to you, Justin - Shusaku Endo's Silence. It's set in seventeenth century Japan, where Portuguese missionaries must contend with traders from rival European nations and the persecution of Christians by Japanese feudal lords. Brilliantly written and impeccably translated.

Endo was a Catholic himself, and his novels often deal with questions of faith and theology. He wrote another novel called The Samurai, about a Japanese samurai who headed a diplomatic mission to the Vatican, travelling through Europe and Mexico in the 17th century. It's based on the remarkable true story of Hasekura Tsunenaga.[/quote]

I read the Amazon extract - it certainly looks interesting. Know where I could get hold of an ebook version?

Justin Swanton · Post by **Justin Swanton** » Fri March 16th, 2012, 3:15 pm

[quote=""Susan""]This comment reminded me of another Catholic novel written by a non-Catholic and made into a film which won its star as Best Actress Oscar...The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel, an Austrian Jew. The book and film tell the story of St. Bernadette of Lourdes. Werfel and his wife were attempting to flee the Nazis and found refuge in Lourdes, France where they were hidden by a number of families. While in Lourdes, they were told the story of Bernadette. Werfel vowed that if he survived, he would tell Bernadette's story and he did so once he reached safety in the United States.[/quote]

I've heard of it but never got round to reading it. Know if it exists as an ebook? (shipping costs to S.A. are so prohibitive)

annis · Post by **annis** » Fri March 16th, 2012, 7:47 pm

Unfortunately Endo's Silence isn't available in Kindle format. Kindle's great for new stuff and older stuff now out of copyright, but there's a big gap in the Kindle catalogue for many older OOP books from the 1960s-90s, which I find quite frustrating.

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Sat March 17th, 2012, 1:38 am

[quote=""Justin Swanton""]I've heard of it but never got round to reading it. Know if it exists as an ebook? (shipping costs to S.A. are so prohibitive)[/quote]

I looked on Amazon and it is not available there as an ebook. You may want to try a public library.

wendy · Post by **wendy** » Sat March 17th, 2012, 7:32 pm

Glad you enjoyed Death Comes For the Archbishop, Justin.
Cather is awesome! You might also like her later novel, Shadows on the Rock!