Death Comes For The Archbishop

The character of Jean Marie Latour was the bishop of Agathonica, which is in Cincinnati, but he is also a vicar apostolic of New Mexico. He is described as very sharp man, calm, valiant, insightful, and very good etiquette. In the beginning is he has been through some trouble to get where he has been stationed to be. In the year 1851 he is going to New Mexico one a horse with a donkey. We find him lost in the desert and all he sees are red hills. He has gotten this far, which is thirty miles with no water or food. Then there is a flash back to where he got directions to get to Santa Fe. He got the directions from Ohio merchants. He was following the directions but ran into some bad luck. He took a boat and in the Galveston harbor the boat sank and he lost all his precious belongings, but he did manage to save his books. Then he was taking a carriage ride and jumped off at his stop and hurt his leg very badly. The injury was so terrible that an Irish family took care of him for three months. He then had gotten on this wagon with another priest on it as well. His name was Father Joseph Vaillant. He was too on his way to Santa Fe. But he finally made it to Santa Fe, and he was in such high spirits just to be in the place that was so time-consuming to get to. He had made it! He saw the whole little town, and he even could he the church. Once he got to the church he hit another dilemma. The Mexican priest told him that they had no paper work saying that he was coming to Santa Fe. The bishop of Durango had not notified them of this circumstance. They said that he had to go get the paper work from him. Bishop of Durango was 3,000 miles of a journey. So he went on his way again, and father Latour got lost again. But he made his way and got the proof. When he got back from bishop Durango the man that he had ridden that wagon with father Vaillant had taken over the church as the new head priest. Father Vaillant has built up the church with volunteers and it has turned out amazing.
In book two they are riding thought Mora and it was raining and storming real bad. And they come up to this rickety house and a white man lived there, named Buck Scales. He had a snake-like neck, with a small bony head, and evil-looking. They said he seemed “half human”. And he offered to put there mules away and before the man could the wife, which was Mexican, she made motions to get out because that the man would kill them and it appeared that she had been beaten by the man. The women came with them because she was scared and she felt that the men were good people. Her name is Magdalena. She began to talk and to tell her story. She was married to buck for six years. He was a robber and has killed many people who come to stay there. And apparently they have had three children and he has killed all of them. So he was a very bad man.

In the third book we meet Jacinto. He is an Indian from the tribe Pecos pueblo. He helped them by being their guide. And he led them west. But father Vaillant was reviewing the case of Father Gallegos and he was a ten years older than Vaillant. He had many friends with the Americans he went dancing and played poker and gambled and had many wine from “el paso del norte”, and he had women after his service go out to dinner. So this priest was not doing his duties of the church and Father Vaillant had many problems with that. On the other hand, Jacinto is still there guide and are leaving for Isleta. And when they got there it was all good and a messenger went through the place saying that the good bishop was coming. People thought of him as a good man. During the night the fathers are with Jacinto and they talk about the stars and they listen to him and are very nice, and we find out that Jacinto is twenty—six and has a child. Father Latour thinks, he was beginning to have some sort of human companionship with his Indian boy.” And as Jacinto takes him through these villages he learns more about then and sees what each village is about.
They in the fourth book Father Vaillant took over father Gallegos because he was in trouble and when Vaillant changed all the holy days and he wrote to his sister named Philomene saying that this village was like school boy to a headmaster. But father Vaillant was the vicar general and in February he was reassigned to Las Vegas. He did not return so Father Latour became very worried. Then one day an Indian boy on a white mule, named Contiento which belonged to Father Vaillant, came bring bad news. He said that Father Vaillant came through the village and helped them by giving last rights and he caught the illness. The illness was black measles. So two hours after the boy came he rode out to help his friend. The go with Jacinto and he guides them. It begins to snow and storm so they had to camp. He found out that the tribe worship snakes and they have a great snake and they sacrifice infants. This is why their tribe is diminishing. But they left in the morning and rode all day and got caught in another storm and stayed in a cave thing and the next day they reached Father Vaillant and he had broke his fever and on the way of recovery. But in this chapter I think Jacinto and Father Latour made a bond.