# Friar Baltazar Montoya — Death Comes for the Archbishop character guide

> Friar Baltazar Montoya in Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Baltazar, The Friar

**First appearance:** 0015-iv-the-legend-of-fray-baltazar

## Snapshot

A gluttonous friar who rules Ácoma like a petty lord, demanding the Indians' corn, labor, and water to feed his garden and his appetites.

## Who they are

Friar Baltazar Montoya is the priest at Ácoma, a man of tyrannical disposition who believes the pueblo exists chiefly to support its fine church and his own comfort. He exacts tribute in corn, hides, and labor, drafts Indian boys into his service, and grows a wonderful garden watered by women who owe him so many ollas a week, all while his appetite for brandy and fish and roast rabbit grows more exacting. His sensual, overbearing rule stands as the novel's sharpest portrait of the old order's corruption, the world Bishop Latour has come to reform.

## In the story

### [Book III: The Mass at Ácoma](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/death_comes_for_the_archbishop_se/chapters/book-iii-the-mass-at-coma)

Mentioned in the legend as a tyrannical priest at Ácoma in the early 1700s.

### [The Legend of Fray Baltazar](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/death_comes_for_the_archbishop_se/chapters/iv-the-legend-of-fray-baltazar)

The tyrannical priest at Ácoma who exploited the natives for labor and resources, built a lavish garden, and was eventually executed by the pueblo.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/death_comes_for_the_archbishop_se/characters/friar_baltazar_montoya
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/death_comes_for_the_archbishop_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/death_comes_for_the_archbishop_se/characters