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On Thu, 2 Oct 1997, Tony Zbaraschuk wrote:
St. Francis of Assisi, early in his career, had a vision telling him to "rebuild my church", and spent a while, first trying to beg stones from passer-by, and then actually working himself on rebuilding an old and decayed church building, before he figured out that what God wanted was a spiritual reform, which become the Franciscan Order. (There's a fair amount about this in G. K. Chesterton's biography of Francis.)
The thought crossed my mind shortly after Silk started talking about how the Outsider wanted him to "save the manteion": "Boy, Silk, are YOU in for a surprise; the Outsider wants something much, much larger."
Good catch, Tony. As a GKC fan, I doubt Wolfe hasn't read Chesterton's St. Francis biography. The parallel is strong enough that it might be deliberate.
-Rostrum