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Garcia Maria de Allande
Father Ferrand is a French-Irish bishop, based on the real historical figure John Baptist Purcell. In both life and the novel, the bishop was placed in charge of a large diocese in Ohio, encompassing much of the Great Lakes region; in real life, Purcell advocated for Jean Baptiste Lamy, just as the fictional Ferrand champions Latour. Cather depicts Ferrand as single-minded and stubborn, having lost interest in fine food and art after the hardships of life in America.
Father Ferrand Quotes in Death Comes for the Archbishop
The Death Comes for the Archbishop quotes below are all either spoken by Father Ferrand or refer to Father Ferrand. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 3: The Wooden Parrot Quotes
“At Ácoma,” [Father Jesus] said, “you can see something very holy. They have their portrait of St. Joseph, sent to them by one of the Kings of Spain, long ago, and it has worked many miracles. If the season is dry, the Ácoma people take the picture down to their farms at Ácoma, and it never fails to produce rain. They have rain when none falls in all the country, and may have crops when the Laguna Indians have none.”
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Father Ferrand Character Timeline in Death Comes for the Archbishop
The timeline below shows where the character Father Ferrand appears in Death Comes for the Archbishop. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue: At Rome
...the beautiful oak trees. The cardinals are French, Italian, and Spanish, while the bishop (Father Ferrand) is Irish by birth. The stakes of this conversation are high—the Provincial Council at Baltimore...
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...United States. But while Maria de Allande and his colleagues watch from afar, men like Ferrand—whose diocese encompasses “the icy arms of the Great Lakes”—know firsthand how difficult such missionary work...
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While the cardinals are skeptical that a new vicariate is necessary in New Mexico, Ferrand insists that this vast new territory could hold great importance to the Catholic church. The...
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...there is already a bishop in Durango, Mexico, who is technically responsible for the area Ferrand wants to organize. But Ferrand points out that 1,500 miles separate Durango from New Mexico....
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Though the bishop of Durango has his own favored candidate for the new vicariate, Ferrand is firm that the new vicar must be young, zealous, and organized. While the other...
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Ferrand stresses that this new bishop will have a difficult job: there will be shortages of...
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...help but hope that the new bishop will keep an eye out for this painting. Ferrand will not promise that Latour will take on such a search. Night falls, and the...
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