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Lucas Páramo
Father Rentería is Comala’s priest, who faces a grave moral dilemma—and chooses wrongly—after Miguel Páramo’s death. Father Rentería not only understands that Miguel was a vicious criminal; he also personally suffered from the man’s crimes: Miguel killed Rentería’s brother, and when Miguel visited Rentería’s niece Ana under the pretext of issuing her an apology, he raped her instead. But when Pedro Páramo gives Father Rentería a fistful of gold coins, he obliges and says last rites for Miguel. He is consumed with guilt because he refused to pardon morally pure people who could not afford these rites, like Eduviges Dyada, whose only sin was committing suicide out of despair. Father Rentería visits neighboring Contla to confess his own sins, but Contla’s priest tells him they are unpardonable. In fact, Father Rentería has consistently condoned and enabled Pedro’s underhanded tactics—like marrying Dolores Preciado just to erase his debts to her—and helped Pedro accumulate all the land and wealth in Comala. He tells Contla’s priest that it’s “God’s will,” but Contla’s priest calls out his blatant lie. On one level, Father Rentería’s abuse of power is a metaphor for how the Catholic Church facilitated colonialism and supported the concentration of land and power in Mexico and throughout Latin America. But it also shows how no one is immune to corruption: while Pedro simply has no moral conscience whatsoever, Rentería does Pedro’s bidding in spite of his clear moral conscience. At the end of the novel, Father Rentería leaves Comala to fight in the Cristero War. Beyond reinforcing the sense that the Church exists to serve the powerful rather than the virtuous, this action also leaves the town without a priest. As a result, anyone who dies in Comala (like Abundio Martínez’s wife, Refugio) has to forego their final rites and, possibly, lose their access to heaven. In other words, Father Rentería leaves Comala forsaken: when he abandons the town, so does God.
Father Rentería Quotes in Pedro Páramo
The Pedro Páramo quotes below are all either spoken by Father Rentería or refer to Father Rentería. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Fragments 13-23, Pages 25-41
Quotes
Shooting stars. One by one, the lights in Comala went out.
Then the sky took over the night.
Father Renteria tossed and turned in his bed, unable to sleep.
It’s all my fault, he told himself. Everything that’s happening. Because I’m afraid to offend the people who provide for me. It’s true; I owe them my livelihood. I get nothing from the poor and God knows prayers don’t fill a stomach. That’s how it’s been up to now. And we’re seeing the consequences. All my fault. I have betrayed those who love me and who have put their faith in me and come to me to intercede on their behalf with God. What has their faith won them? Heaven? Or the purification of their souls?
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Fragments 37-46, Pages 61-85
Quotes
“We live in a land in which everything grows, thanks to God’s providence; but everything that grows is bitter. That is our curse.”
“You’re right, Father. I’ve tried to grow grapes over in Comala. They don’t bear. Only guavas and oranges: bitter oranges and bitter guavas. I’ve forgotten the taste of sweet fruit. Do you remember the China guavas we had in the seminary? The peaches? The tangerines that shed their skin at a touch? I brought seeds here. A few, just a small pouch. Afterward, I felt it would have been better to leave them where they were, since I only brought them here to die.”
“And yet, Father, they say that the earth of Comala is good. What a shame the land is all in the hands of one man.”
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Father Rentería Quotes in Pedro Páramo
The Pedro Páramo quotes below are all either spoken by Father Rentería or refer to Father Rentería. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Fragments 13-23, Pages 25-41
Quotes
Shooting stars. One by one, the lights in Comala went out.
Then the sky took over the night.
Father Renteria tossed and turned in his bed, unable to sleep.
It’s all my fault, he told himself. Everything that’s happening. Because I’m afraid to offend the people who provide for me. It’s true; I owe them my livelihood. I get nothing from the poor and God knows prayers don’t fill a stomach. That’s how it’s been up to now. And we’re seeing the consequences. All my fault. I have betrayed those who love me and who have put their faith in me and come to me to intercede on their behalf with God. What has their faith won them? Heaven? Or the purification of their souls?
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Explanation and Analysis:
Fragments 37-46, Pages 61-85
Quotes
“We live in a land in which everything grows, thanks to God’s providence; but everything that grows is bitter. That is our curse.”
“You’re right, Father. I’ve tried to grow grapes over in Comala. They don’t bear. Only guavas and oranges: bitter oranges and bitter guavas. I’ve forgotten the taste of sweet fruit. Do you remember the China guavas we had in the seminary? The peaches? The tangerines that shed their skin at a touch? I brought seeds here. A few, just a small pouch. Afterward, I felt it would have been better to leave them where they were, since I only brought them here to die.”
“And yet, Father, they say that the earth of Comala is good. What a shame the land is all in the hands of one man.”
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