Where most of Willa Cather's work focuses on the pioneers of the American West, Death Comes for the Archbishop moves further South to the New Mexico territory. There, French Bishop Jean Latour and Father Joseph Vaillant explore the territory while developing the former's relationship with local people and tribes. Throughout the story, the duo contemplate both the nature of faith, but also Europe's treatment of Indigenous peoples.
The story is based partially on Jean-Baptiste Lamy and Joseph Projectus Machebeuf, two real Catholic priests who established a Roman Catholic diocese in New Mexico. While Cather tells a fictionalized version of their story, using Latour and Vaillant as...
