Antonio Olivares Character Analysis in Death Comes for the Archbishop

Don Antonio Olivares is a wealthy ranchero (rancher), and one of the most prominent men in all of Santa Fé. In addition to being Isabella’s husband and Inez’s father, Olivares also has a large group of brothers and many close friends, including Kit Carson and Manuel Chavez. Though he throws boisterous parties, Olivares is deeply invested in matters of Catholic faith—like the new church Latour plans to build—and he is always considerate, giving gifts to Bishop Latour and Vicar Vaillant that he specifically tailors to their interests. After Olivares’s death, the considerable inheritance he leaves behind sparks a legal battle between his wife and his brothers.

Antonio Olivares Character Timeline in Death Comes for the Archbishop

The timeline below shows where the character Antonio Olivares appears in Death Comes for the Archbishop. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Spirituality vs. the Material World Theme Icon

Memory, Death, and Afterlives Theme Icon

...scene.” In order to build this church, however, he will need benefactors like Don Antonio Olivares, a wealthy Mexican ranchero. (full context)

Olivares is the wealthiest sibling in a giant family. After spending much of his life in... (full context)

Isabella and Olivares have one daughter, an unmarried woman (likely in her 40s) named Inez. Though Inez has... (full context)

Colonialism, Industry, and Loss Theme Icon

At one New Year’s party, Olivares announces his plan to raise enough money to start work in 1860, a decade after... (full context)

...night, Latour thought about how each man’s life shaped him. For example, Don Manuel Chavez, Olivares’s old friend, wore his history as an “Indian fighter” in his features. Chavez’s passion for... (full context)

Shortly after that party, Olivares died, keeling over from a heart attack. While Latour was sent for to perform last... (full context)

After the funeral, Latour and Vaillant go to meet Olivares’s lawyer, Boyd O’Reilly. O’Reilly is a young Irish Catholic from Boston who has just come... (full context)

O’Reilly also informs the priests about the grounds on which Olivares’s brothers are contesting the will. They claim that Inez is too old to be Isabella’s... (full context)

Vaillant arrives to see the Olivares home already in disarray. When Isabella meets him, her eyes are red from crying, but... (full context)

...this moment of illness. He still washes his hands with the same silver toiletries that Olivares gave him 30 years ago; he still talks to Magdalena, recounting to her the story... (full context)

...left for him: after all, most of his good friends, Kit Carson and Vaillant and Olivares, are dead. (full context)