Death Comes for the Archbishop

In the formative years of democracy for any nation, it is essential to find cultural ties that bind together seemingly disparate sects of society. In Willa Cather’s 1927 novel, Death of the Archbishop, she posits that religious faith, wielded not as a tool of domination but of coexistence, can bring meld what seem at first as incompatible civilizations.

Set in the late 19th century in the newly acquired New Mexico territory, the novel is based on the lives of Catholic missionaries Jean-Bapti...