"The Chosen Vessel" is a dramatic short story by the Australian author Barbara Baynton. It relates the tale of an outback lady took off alone with her infant in a shrub hovel as she anticipates an assault by a swagman who has called there amid the day.
The correct answer is St. Paul the Apostle and the term “Chosen Vessel” is a reference to the New Testament, specifically Acts 9:15 which reads, in King James Bible: “But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel”. St. Paul is the “chosen vessel because he would go “beyond” the Jewish world and convert non-Jewish gentiles to Christianity by carrying the sacred fire of God in his heart and mind, as a vessel.
