Death Comes for the Archbishop · Chapter
II: The Miser explained
Bishop Latour travels to Rome and returns with new priests, leading to a schism with Padre Martínez and Father Lucero.
What happens
Bishop Latour travels to Rome and returns with new priests, leading to a schism with Padre Martínez and Father Lucero. The chapter focuses on Father Lucero's miserly life and his deathbed scene, where he reveals hidden money and demands Kit Carson oversee its distribution.
Themes in this chapter
Faith and Doubt
Father Lucero's deathbed renunciation of heresy and reception of the Sacrament highlights the tension between his avarice and his faith.
Mortality and Legacy
Lucero's obsession with protecting his money after death and his instructions for masses reflect his struggle with mortality and desire for legacy.
Cultural Clash and Harmony
The schism between the Mexican and American churches illustrates the cultural and religious conflicts in the region.
Characters to notice
- Father Lucero
The miserly priest, dying and paranoid about his hidden money, confesses his heresy and receives last rites.
- Father Joseph Vaillant
Rides to Arroyo Hondo to administer last rites to Father Lucero, despite the difficult journey.
- Padre Antonio José Martínez
Mentioned as having led a schism with Lucero; his money was entrusted to Lucero for masses.
- Kit Carson
Father Lucero demands that Carson count and record his hidden money after his death.
- Trinidad Lucero
Nephew of Father Lucero, ordained by the schismatic priests, and guides Father Vaillant to Arroyo Hondo.
- Conçeptión Gonzales
A local woman who assists in the deathbed scene, providing sheets and candles.
Key passages
“Thrift is such a rare quality among Mexicans that they find it very amusing; his people loved to tell how he never bought anything, but picked up old brooms after housewives had thrown them away, and that he wore Padre Martínez’s garments after the Padre would have them no longer, though they were so much too big for him.”
The locals found Father Lucero's extreme frugality entertaining, sharing stories of how he scavenged discarded brooms and wore Martínez's oversized hand-me-downs.
Illustrates Lucero's miserly character and the community's amused tolerance.
“Avarice, he assured them, was the one passion that grew stronger and sweeter in old age. He had the lust for money as Martínez had for women, and they had never been rivals in the pursuit of their pleasures.”
Lucero claimed that greed, unlike other desires, only intensifies with age, comparing his love of money to Martínez's love of women.
Highlights the central theme of avarice and the contrast between the two priests.
“One approached over a sagebrush plain that appeared to run level and unbroken to the base of the distant mountains; then without warning, one suddenly found oneself upon the brink of a precipice, of a chasm in the earth over two hundred feet deep, the sides sheer cliffs, but cliffs of earth, not rock.”
The landscape suddenly drops into a deep, earth-walled canyon, revealing a hidden valley below.
Describes the dramatic geography of Arroyo Hondo.