Death Comes for the Archbishop

Death Comes for the Archbishop is a 1927 novel by American author Willa Cather. It concerns the attempts of a Catholic bishop and a priest to establish a diocese in New Mexico Territory. The narrative is based on two historical figures of the late 19th century, Jean-Baptiste Lamy and Joseph Projectus Machebeuf, and the story follows their lives serving as Roman Catholic clergy in New Mexico. The narrative touches many aspects of their lives and has frequent digressions, either in terms of stories related to the pair (including the story of the Our Lady of Guadalupe and the murder of an oppressive Spanish priest at Acoma Pueblo) or through their recollections.

Willa Cather (1873-1947) was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours, a novel set during World War I. Cather was praised for bringing the American West to life and making it personally interesting.