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Book 8: Cathedral
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Death Comes for the Archbishop, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Spirituality vs. the Material World
Friendship and Compromise
Humanity’s Relationship with Nature
Colonialism, Industry, and Loss
Memory, Death, and Afterlives
Summary
Analysis
The next day, Latour gets a letter from the Bishop of Leavenworth, explaining some important new developments in Colorado: a series of gold deposits have been found under the crust of Pike’s Peak. However, because the area is so poorly mapped and difficult to navigate, this news got to Europe before it reaches Santa Fé; indeed, Vaillant first learned of the gold from his brother in Auvergne.
When Latour arrived, Santa Fé had almost no contact with Europe; now, his own small city feels global and metropolitan, while Colorado represents the newest new frontier. Once again, then, Latour’s work to connect his diocese with religion is paralleled by new forms of industry, transport, and communication technology.
Themes
Suddenly, this remote, little-known region has been transformed: massive camps have sprung up, alongside gambling and drinking. As this new terrain is also under Latour’s jurisdiction, the letter begs the priest to send a churchman to Pike’s Peak. With no spiritual guidance or church presence, the area is quickly falling into disarray; the people there are also badly in need of food and medicine.
One of the challenges of creating any sort of straightforward legacy, this passage makes clear, is that the kind of missionary work Latour and Vaillant do is inherently cyclical. In other words, as soon as a Catholic presence has been established in one region, the two priests will be dispatched to repeat the process in the next new place.
Themes
Vaillant is eager to go, but Latour urges patience, emphasizing all the preparation that must be done to get Vaillant to Colorado safely. Latour wonders if Vaillant will miss New Mexico, but Vaillant feels that “it was the discipline of his life to break ties; to say farewell and move into the unknown.” Vaillant only yearns for a blessing to ease the pain in his aching feet.
In addition to emphasizing the contrasts between Latour and Vaillant, Vaillant’s reflection here also shows how much he has changed as an individual. At the beginning of the story, Vaillant dreaded leaving Chicago, and he complained about his constant relocation; now, he feels that “breaking ties” is the purpose of his life, and he almost looks forward to the change.
Themes
Vaillant then recalls an event from years ago, in the Mexican village of Chimayo. A young boy named Ramon Armonjillo had a prize rooster, one capable of winning any cock fight. But after the rooster was slaughtered by a jealous man, Ramon had—without thinking—killed his bird’s murderer. When Vaillant went to visit Ramon in his jail cell, the boy was sewing a pair of boots, which he hoped could be sent home as an offering to Santiago, patron saint of horses. Sadly, Vaillant considers that the criminals waiting for him in Colorado will be of a very different “type.”
In addition to testifying to the deep faith and sense of community that Latour and Vaillant have witnessed in New Mexico, this anecdote hints at the inequities of the American justice system. And indeed, even though the kinds of criminality in Colorado were far more dangerous, U.S. judges were generally more friendly towards the white miners and speculators than they were to the Mexican Ramon Armonjillo.
Themes
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