Death Comes for the Archbishop: Book 7: Spring in the Navajo Country Summary & Analysis

While Vaillant is in Arizona, Latour and Jacinto ride south to visit Eusabio, an old Navajo friend of Latour’s. Eusabio is younger than Latour but well-respected for his fine dress, patience, and bearing, which always makes Latour think of a Roman general. Eusabio has recently lost his only son, and when Latour arrives, their greeting is solemn—all Eusabio can say is, “my friend has come.”

Latour decides to stay for three days, using the time to collect his thoughts. There are cottonwood trees all over the land, all of which are ancient and giant and bent by the winds. Eusabio gives Latour space, and as a sandstorm rages, Latour tries to decide whether or not he should call Vaillant home. Though the new priests from Auvergne are lovely, they lack all of Vaillant’s tact and decision-making power.

But Latour also just misses Vaillant’s friendship (“why not admit it?”, he thinks). The two men had grown up nearby but had not met until the Seminary, when Vaillant had impressed Latour with his brash manners and strange appearance. At the time, Vaillant was still choosing between the priesthood and the army. This impulsivity, so different from his own mild-mannered behavior, felt like “adventure” to Latour.

Though Latour was always better at his studies, Vaillant was more able to converse with people, and more ardent in his faith. Latour had quickly learned to accept his friend’s contradictions: for example, though Vaillant always craved good food and wine, these material comforts were quickly “transformed into spiritual energy” in Vaillant’s stomach. And while Latour hates asking for money on behalf of the church, Vaillant is a skilled and eager beggar—even though he has no material possessions of his own.

Vaillant is also tremendously social, always making friends wherever he goes. While Latour is bothered by ugly landscapes and buildings (like those in Ohio), Vaillant seems only to notice the social life of a place. “Nothing one could say of Father Vaillant explained him,” Latour reflects. “The man was much greater than the sum of his qualities.”

The last time Vaillant went to Rome, his social grace and persistence even allowed him to secure an audience with the pope. Though that pope was often on “the wrong side” of European political matters, he had done a great deal to spread the faith in remote parts of the world. Therefore, he took a quick liking to Vaillant, canceling other appointments to extend his time with Vaillant.