How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Untaught and unshepherded, they cling to the faith of their fathers. (P.15)
Father Latour knows that he's facing an uphill battle in his attempts to convert the Hopi and Navajo peoples to the Catholic faith. After all, these people have had their own beliefs and customs for thousands of years, and it'll take more than one year of preaching to make them believe in Christ.
Quote #2
Of all the Lord's physical sufferings, only one, "I thirst," rose to His lips. (1.1.8)
Whenever Father Latour goes through a difficult situation, he looks to the life of Jesus Christ for inspiration. When he's caught alone in the desert, for example, he compares his own horrible thirst to the thirst Jesus felt when he was on the cross.
Quote #3
The Passion of Jesus became for him the only reality; the need of his own body was but a part of the conception. (1.1.8)
Once again, Father Latour manages to forget about his own problems by focusing on how much worse Jesus' sufferings were. Whenever things are awful for him, Father Latour tends to think, "Well, at least I'm not suffering as much as Jesus did."
Quote #4
"They destroyed our churches when they were fighting us, and stabled their horses in them. And now they will take our religion away from us. We want our own ways and our own religion." (1.2.8)
A young boy named José refuses to accept that the Americans now control New Mexico because he thinks they are a bunch of God-hating jerks. When the Americans first raided the area, they desecrated the churches by first keeping horses in them, and then torching them. For José, this means that all Americans must be horrible non-believers, even though Latour tries to convince him that this isn't the case.
Quote #5
"I will baptize the children to-morrow morning, and their parents will at least have been married over night." (2.1.8)
Whenever Father Latour comes across a group of people who haven't had contact with a priest for a long time, he makes sure to perform all the ceremonies that are necessary for keeping these people holy. For example, making sure all of the couples are married and all the children are baptized is his first pressing priority. According to the Catholic faith, many of these people have been living in sin, but Latour gives them some leeway because they've been living in a place that's totally isolated.
Quote #6
He was already convinced that neither the white men nor the Mexicans in Santa Fe understood anything about Indian beliefs or the workings of the Indian mind. (4.2.29)
The more Father Latour learns about New Mexico, the more he realizes that the white people in the area know nothing about how Native American people think. This is no doubt one of the main reasons why the white missionaries have had little success in making these people give up their traditional beliefs.
Quote #7
"The soul cannot be humbled by fasts and prayer; it must be broken by mortal sin to experience forgiveness of sin and rise to a state of grace. Otherwise, religion is nothing but dead logic." (5.1.22)
According to Padre Martinez, religious rules were made to be broken. He even believes that a person can't know what it's like to be religious unless they have committed a lot of sins. Father Latour begs to differ, since he doesn't see any problem with living a nice, moral life.
Quote #8
"We have a living Church here, not a dead arm of the European Church. Our religion grew out of the soil, and has its own roots." (5.1.24)
Padre Martinez is so sure of the value of his New Mexican church because he believes that the church has formed a sacred bond with the land that it's built on. He even accuses the official Catholic Church in Rome of being a "dead arm."
Quote #9
And Father Vaillant had not been content to be a mere missionary priest. He became a promoter. He saw a great future for the church in Colorado. (9.5.12)
Father Vaillant isn't a guy who will compromise on his values for the sake of a comfortable life. He even gives up his tough job in New Mexico for an even tougher job in the mountains of Colorado. He does this because he's dedicated to spreading the Catholic faith, no matter how much inconvenience it causes in his own life.
Quote #10
When the Cathedral bell tolled just after dark, the Mexican population of Santa Fe fell upon their knees, and all American Catholics as well. (9.8.6)
When Father Latour finally succumbs to illness in his old age, all of the Catholics from around Santa Fe drop to their knees and pray for his soul. He has been with them for a long time at this point, and they've come to respect all the hard work he's put in for the Catholic Church, and for the city of Santa Fe.