Death Comes for the Archbishop: Book Four

by Willa Cather
Following the Mexican-American War, Bishop Jean Latour and Father Joseph Vaillant work to build a new Roman Catholic dicoese in New Mexico.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Book One, Book Two, Book Three, Book Four, Book Five, Book Six, Book Seven, Book Eight, Book Nine

Here is a link to My Antonia by Willa Cather.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. genial
    diffusing warmth and friendliness
    A month after the Bishop's visit to Albuquerque and Ácoma, the genial Father Gallegos was formally suspended, and Father Vaillant himself took charge of the parish.
  2. austere
    severely simple
    The holy-days, which had been occasions of revelry under Padre Gallegos, were now days of austere devotion.
  3. vie
    compete for something
    under one master the lads try to excel one another in mischief and disobedience, under another they vie with each other in acts of loyalty.
  4. zeal
    a feeling of strong eagerness
    The Novena preceding Christmas, which had long been celebrated by dances and hilarious merrymaking, was this year a great revival of religious zeal.
  5. opaque
    not transmitting or reflecting light or radiant energy
    The sun was shining brilliantly in a blue sky, but in the west, behind the mountain, lay a great stationary black cloud, opaque and motionless as a ledge of rock.
  6. veranda
    a porch along the outside of a building
    the roof of Jacinto's house made a veranda for the family above him.
  7. swathe
    wrap in or as if in strips of cloth
    Father Latour did not ask to see it; it would be swathed in layers of wrappings, he knew; even its face and head would be covered against drafts.
  8. arduous
    difficult to accomplish
    Why should it be very arduous, in a mountain full of timber, to feed a fire so small that its whereabouts had been concealed for centuries?
  9. expedition
    an organized group of people undertaking a journey
    This was all that was left of the rich and populous Cicuye of Coronado's expedition.
  10. verdant
    characterized by abundance of vegetation and green foliage
    The pueblo, indeed, seemed to lie upon the knees of these verdant mountains, like a favoured child.
  11. plateau
    a relatively flat raised area of land
    Out yonder, on the juniper-spotted plateau in front of the village, the Spaniards had camped, exacting a heavy tribute of corn and furs and cotton garments from their hapless hosts.
  12. concubine
    a woman who cohabits with an important man
    It was from here, the story went, that they set forth in the spring on their ill-fated search for the seven golden cities of Quivera, taking with them slaves and concubines ravished from the Pecos people.
  13. buttress
    a support usually of stone or brick
    They went along a line of red doorways and across the bare rock to the gaunt ruin, whose lateral walls, with their buttresses, still braved the storm and let in the starlight.
  14. maxim
    a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits
    Vaillant's maxim that if you said your prayers first, you would find plenty of time for other things afterward.
  15. clamber
    climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
    He clambered over half-visible rocks, fell over prostrate trees, sank into deep holes and struggled out, always following the red blankets on the
    shoulders of the Indian boy, which stuck out when the boy himself was lost to sight.
  16. prostrate
    stretched out and lying at full length along the ground
    He clambered over half-visible rocks, fell over prostrate trees, sank into deep holes and struggled out, always following the red blankets on the shoulders of the Indian boy, which stuck out when the boy himself was lost to sight.
  17. orifice
    an opening, especially one that opens into a bodily cavity
    A few moments later the Bishop slid after Jacinto and the blankets, through the orifice, into the throat of the cave.
  18. gothic
    as if belonging to the Middle Ages
    He found himself in a lofty cavern, shaped somewhat like a Gothic chapel, of vague outline,--the only light within was that which came through the narrow aperture between the stone lips.
  19. aperture
    a natural opening in something
    He found himself in a lofty cavern, shaped somewhat like a Gothic chapel, of vague outline,--the only light within was that which came through the narrow aperture between the stone lips.
  20. fetid
    offensively malodorous
    The air in the cave was glacial, penetrated to the very bones, and he detected at once a fetid odour, not very strong but highly disagreeable.
  21. fissure
    a long narrow depression in a surface
    There Jacinto knelt down over a fissure in the stone floor, like a crack in china, which was plastered up with clay.
  22. flounder
    move clumsily or struggle to move, as in mud or water
    They floundered on foot some eight miles to a squatter's cabin, rented horses, and completed their journey by starlight.
  23. repugnance
    intense aversion
    It flashed into his mind from time to time, and always with a shudder of repugnance quite unjustified by anything he had experienced there.
  24. recluse
    one who lives in solitude
    Carson said that he was honest and truthful, a good friend to the Indians, and had at one time wanted to marry a Pecos girl, but his old mother, who was very proud of being "white," would not hear to it, and so he had remained a single man and a recluse.
  25. veneration
    a feeling of profound respect for someone or something
    Father Latour remarked that their veneration for old customs was a quality he liked in the Indians, and that it played a great part in his own religion.
Created on Mon Mar 25 12:21:11 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Jul 16 17:32:09 EDT 2018)

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