In the mid-nineteenth century Father Latour, eventually to become archbishop of Santa Fe, went with his friend from seminary days, Father Valliant, to win the Southwest for Catholicism. After nearly forty years of love and service, the archbishop died "of having lived." This unaffected narrative of a human life is perhaps Willa Cather's masterpiece. She recounts history so that we feel the events happened yesterday and might happen again today or tomorrow.
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