Who is Father Paul Dure from The Rise of Endymion and what is their importance?

Father Paul Dure is one of the original Hyperion pilgrims. He came to the planet after leaving the Church in disgrace for academic fraud. He then began studying the Bikura tribe, who were the first humans to attempt to use the newly discovered cruciforms. Dure takes on a cruciform, but after discovering the downside of resurrection, he crucifies himself to an electrically conductive Tesla tree. He dies repeatedly over many years, but the tree's electrical flow somehow allows for the proper functioning of the cruciform, and Dure's mind remains undamaged.