Silk & St. Francis

Michael Straight · 11 Jan 1999, 14:53 · from urth-v0022.mbox · original

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Subject: (urth) Silk & St. Francis
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 14:53:56
Message-ID: <urth-v0022-0077 at digest.urth.net>
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On Fri, 1 Jan 1999, Alex David Groce wrote:

> 	Also, read Chesterton's ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, and wondered if anyone
> else found it plausible that Silk's (brief and unsuccesssful) career as b=
urglar
> was inspired in part by St. Francis' attempt to repair a ruined chapel wi=
th
> money stolen from his father--Chesterton concentrates quite a bit on the =
event
> and its meanings, and I'm certain Wolfe's read the book...  The relevant
> material is in Chapter IV of the book, especially p. 54 of the Image edit=
ion...
> If it is a source, then Silk really is a very Chesterton-influenced figure
> (given the obvious Father Brown heritage).

I think someone mentioned this a while back, but the other parallel
between Silk and St. Francis is that St. Francis had a vision from God
which he initially interpreted literally as telling him to rebuild a
particular chapel, but later came to understand as a commission to help
"rebuild" the Church through his missionary order.  Silk's theophany is
similarly a wider commission than merely saving a few buildings.

-Rostrum

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