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Vintage cover of Death Comes for the Archbishop

Death Comes for the Archbishop

Book Club Resources

Father Jean Marie Latour is a French Jesuit priest who is sent on mission to the newly acquired southwestern part of the United States in 1851. He brings with him, Father Joseph Vaillant to travel around New Mexico and revive the diminishing Catholic presence in the area. Father Latour roams around the southwest with a compassionate and gentle demeanor as he is faced with corrupt priests, an unforgiving desert environment, and the intersection of native beliefs and Catholicism.
 

Instead of the Nebraska prairies that made Willa Cather famous, Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) features a new frontier and a new theme – Catholicism. Many critics hail this novel as one of Cather’s best and most well-structured narratives which helped solidify her as an extraordinary American author. 

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