Death Comes for the Archbishop

Father Latour receives a letter from the Bishop of Leavenworth, detailing a new Gold Rush in Colorado. A large mineral deposit was found under Pike’s Peak, and prospectors are filling the area. These men, he explains, live a godless life without the benefit of religion or clergy, and he wants Latour to send a priest there. The prospect of providing this burgeoning community with spiritual guidance immediately excites Vaillant, but Latour explains that the journey will be difficult and that Vaillant must make many preparations before embarking. Nevertheless, Vaillant looks forward to the trip and resolves to go as soon as possible.

Vaillant’s preparations take an entire month, but at last he’s ready to embark on his journey north. He leaves in a wagon outfitted to contain everything he might need. Father Latour, though grateful that his friend is so eager to take on this new responsibility, feels slightly hurt that Vaillant is so happy to leave Santa Fe. Vaillant understands his friend well and reflects that Latour doesn’t make new friends as easily as he does. He realizes that his absence will be acutely painful to Latour. Latour insists that he take both mules because they’re accustomed to living together. Vaillant understands the symbolism inherent in this gesture and feels compassion for Latour.

Latour accompanies Vaillant on the first few miles of his journey and, when he arrives back in Santa Fe, reflects on his age and how long he has been in the US. He’s 47 and has spent 20 years in this country and 10 in New Mexico. He feels a distinct sense of loneliness, but then what he thinks must be the spirit of the Virgin Mary quickly fills him. Vaillant, though he occasionally returns to New Mexico, spends the rest of his life living and working among the rough men in Colorado. His life isn’t easy, and he gets injured several times. Eventually he can no longer ride a horse. However, he remains resolute in his desire to bring God to a godless country and is happy with his lot in life. He’s a skillful fundraiser and, in addition to his many conversions, raises large sums for the church. On one journey back to New Mexico, he and Latour reflect that they’re no longer young. Death, they know, might come for them at any time. Latour, realizing that this might be the last time he sees his friend, asks for his blessing.

Latour is promoted to Archbishop and then retires to a small piece of land he purchases near the village of Tesuque. Vaillant dies, and after his death, Latour reflects that he feels closer to his friend than ever. After his retirement, Latour devotes his time to educating new priests, many of whom are French like Latour himself and his friend Vaillant. One of them, a young seminarian named Bernard, becomes like a son to Latour, and Latour is grateful for his presence.

In 1888, Latour gets caught riding in a storm and catches a cold. He decides to move back to Santa Fe, even though the new archbishop occupies his old house. His cathedral is now completed, and he’s satisfied with its appearance. He feels that it’s a part of the landscape that surrounds it and that it glorifies God. He hopes to arrive in the city in the late afternoon, in time to see the sun setting over the Sangre de Christo mountains. He recalls the first time he saw this view, upon his arrival in Santa Fe. Latour reflects that the red of the mountains has always resembled not fresh but dried blood, the blood of saints and martyrs.

Latour rises early, happy to be near his cathedral again. He reflects that he’ll also be buried in the cathedral upon his death and feels at peace. He thinks back over his years in New Mexico. He arrived in the country during the days when there were still buffalo and saw several waves of societal advancement. What was once a dusty horse track is now a railroad. Although Latour tried to return home to France upon his retirement, he grew homesick for the US and knew that his true home was in the place where he lived and worked for so many years. Although he’s now an old man, he still feels young each morning he wakes in New Mexico.

Latour is no longer healthy but tries to maintain a daily routine. With Bernard’s help, he attends to his basic needs. He continues to reflect on his life, recalling the difficulty of his early days in the territory. New priests have no idea what their predecessors endured, and Latour wishes that he had written more of his experiences down. He thinks of the Spanish friars who colonized the region before his arrival, often surrounded by hostile Indigenous communities who didn’t wish to be conquered or converted. He thinks, as many others do, that the survival of these first friars was miraculous.

Father Latour thinks back over his many years of friendship with Father Vaillant, whose signet ring he still wears. He recalls that they both escaped unsupportive parents to go to Ohio and that their decision to leave France and family was harder for Vaillant. Latour, although the more intelligent of the two, wasn’t the better missionary. He knew even as a young man that Vaillant did more to convert and care for his flock. Vaillant eventually became the first Bishop of Colorado, and Latour was happy for his friend. Upon hearing of Vaillant’s death, Latour traveled to Denver for his funeral. Although the two remained in touch and saw each other periodically, Latour recalls having always thought of his friend as a young man and pictures him in his mind’s eye as he appeared on their first day in Santa Fe.

During his final days, Latour thinks only infrequently of death. Instead, he loses himself in remembrances of the past. Most of his good friends have died, and he feels as though he belongs to the previous generation. One day, Latour has the opportunity to spend time with his old friend Eusabio. The two reflect on the many changes that their region has seen during the past few decades, and they part after sharing one last handshake.

Latour recalls the years when widespread violence occurred against the Navajos. The white settlers sought to expel them from their ancient landholdings, and although the Navajos resisted fiercely, many were forced to leave their communities. Latour admired and respected the Navajos and had long thought that white settlers gravely mistreated them. Even Kit Carson, one of Latour’s dearest friends, had attacked them, besieging them in Canyon de Chelly, one of their most sacred spaces. Latour did what he could to help the Navajos and even visited Canyon de Chelly, a place he greatly admired for its natural beauty. He hopes that the Navajo can thrive, even as white society grows and develops in the region that they once called their own.

Latour grows increasingly sick, and those around him know he’s approaching death when he stops eating. At the hour of his death, he appears to be praying in French. He is, in his mind’s eye, standing on a remote New Mexico mountain, tending to the needs of one of his flock. When Latour passes, the cathedral bells toll in his honor, and the entire city mourns.