Death Comes for the Archbishop Mortality Quotes

When he reflects on the distant past, Father Latour thinks about how people used to think that death was what happened when your soul finally escaped your body and made a giant leap into the realm of spirit. It's a lot nicer than thinking about death as a simple end of life.

When he thinks of death, Father Latour wonders about the importance that people tend to give to a dying person's final words. It's almost as if we're trying to glimpse something "beyond" life to help prepare us for our own journey into death.

Things get pretty creepy when Father Lucero dies. Apparently, he looks into the world of the dead just before losing consciousness and sees Father Martinez burning in hell. This'll no doubt make the people of the community think twice before doing something immoral.

Ever since hearing of the death of his friend, Father Vaillant, Father Latour has felt a closer connection to the guy. When they were alive, duty had forced Vaillant to move far away from Latour. But Latour writes that he feels the presence of Vaillant's spirit once Vaillant has died. Maybe this is something he's just telling himself because he knows he'll die soon, or maybe he truly does have faith that he'll see everyone he loves in his afterlife.

Father Latour knows that his time is fast approaching. He's not bitter about it because he has lived a long and good life. The only thing that could make him bitter would be the thought that he had wasted his life. But he doesn't feel this way at all.

Latour isn't worried about dying of a cold. If anything, he knows he'll die from having lived a full life. But in that case, he's more than happy to accept the coming of death.

Of all his accomplishments, Father Latour is proudest of the Cathedral that he got built in Santa Fe. He's so proud of the thing that he plans to be buried in it once he's passed away. This thought gives him a lot of comfort in the final weeks of his life.

After a few decades, the air of New Mexico has become a necessary part of Father Latour's life. It's become so important to him that he has left behind a cushy life in Europe for the sake of breathing this air and spreading Catholicism through North America. There are no illusions in his mind about the fact that his life will end on New Mexico soil. But he's totally content in knowing it.

Father Latour doesn't think all that much about death in the final years of his life. Instead, he looks back on the past and takes comfort in all of the great memories he's been able to make in his life.

At the end of the book, Willa Cather makes good on her promise. Death comes for the Archbishop, and we the readers get to reflect on all of the things we've seen Latour do in this book. There's something about death that really makes you want to look back and wonder about what someone's life has meant.