Death Comes for the Archbishop

The cruciform tree is an important symbol of Faith and Religion that Father Latour encounters on one of his journeys when he has lost his way and both he and his horse are nearing exhaustion. He stops before the tree to pray, and after he finishes, he resumes his journey. This alludes to the role of faith in Father Latour’s life: It’s his compass and his driving force. His faith leads him to the priesthood, to Ohio, and finally to New Mexico, a region that shapes the course of the rest of his life.

The cruciform tree, whose shape recalls the cross on which Christ was crucified, thus symbolizes the role that sacrifice will play in Bishop Latour’s life. He gives up the ease and erudition of a European post in favor of the wild frontier against which he’ll struggle for decades, yet he defines himself in no small part against those struggles and privations. His early encounter with the tree foreshadows his persevering through difficulty in order to spread the word of God, which becomes his life’s work. The tree’s location is also important: Standing alone in the vast and unforgiving desert of northern New Mexico, the setting recalls the desert through which Christ wandered in the days leading up to his crucifixion. He spent his time there in contemplation and ritual self-emptying in preparation to commit himself wholly to God’s plan for him. Likewise, Latour wanders through the desert and “empties” himself of his attachment to life in the more settled European and Great Lakes regions. He roams through his own desert and emerges ready to take on the difficult task set before him by both his church and his God.

The miracles and signs sent by God are important motifs that help the author explore the theme of Faith and Religion. Father Vaillant particularly recognizes that many ordinary people are driven toward God not by religious study or contemplation but by miracles. Father Latour hopes that such signs are less important than God’s actual teachings, but repeated evidence suggests that within his diocese in particular, Vaillant’s assertion is the more accurate: that miracles do play a greater role in the ecclesiastical life of most Catholics.

One noteworthy example of a Christian miracle is the novel’s account of the shrine to the Virgen de Guadalupe, an important figure to Mexican and Latin American Catholics, whose story (which the novel accurately tells) is as much a part of Mexican cultural history as it is religious history. According to legend, the Virgen appeared to a young man and directed him to build a shrine to her on the spot where she revealed herself. The young man immediately shared this story with his priest, but the priest asked for a sign. The Virgen then told the young man where he might gather fresh roses, and he indeed found bunches of fragrant flowers. Because it was winter, the priest was moved, realizing that the apparition had truly been the mother of God.

This novel deeply explores differences and contradictions, and its exploration of Catholicism is complex. Faith is a driving force for many characters, but the text also depicts the church as fraught and problematic. Miracles reflect this interest in contradiction because different characters view miracles differently. This illustrates the mutable, personal nature of faith and religiosity: Each figure in this novel experiences faith and religion in individualized ways.