Saint Richard of Chichester

Saint Richard of Chichester, also known as Richard of Wych, was an English bishop of the thirteenth century. A learned lawyer and chancellor of the University of Oxford, he was unable to take possession of his diocese for two years after his election, because King Henry III opposed it. He himself lived in poverty and gave generously to those in need. The Church commemorates him on April 3.

He was born around 1197 at Wych, today’s Droitwich in Worcestershire; the exact year is not known. He lost his father early, and the family estate fell into decline. Richard put the farm back on its feet by his own work, but when his elder brother wanted to hand the inheritance over to him and he was urged to marry, he refused, because he desired learning and the service of God.

He studied at Oxford, Paris, and Bologna, where he devoted himself to canon law. Around 1235 he became chancellor of the University of Oxford, and in 1237 chancellor to Saint Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury. He accompanied him on his journey to France and was with him at his death in 1240. He then studied theology with the Dominicans in Orléans, was ordained a priest, and served in a parish in the county of Kent.

In 1244 the chapter of Chichester elected a royal favorite as bishop, but Archbishop Boniface of Savoy annulled that election, and Richard became bishop. Henry III did not recognize him and kept the property of the diocese. Pope Innocent IV personally consecrated Richard bishop on March 5, 1245, in Lyon. On his return the bishop had neither a house nor an income. He lived with a priest named Simon at Tarring and visited the parishes on foot. The king gave way only in July 1246, when the pope threatened him with excommunication.

As bishop he lived austerely, wore a hair shirt, and gave away most of his income as alms. The bull of canonization stresses that from the time he took charge of the diocese he cared for the poor even more. He issued diocesan statutes in which he required the clergy to celebrate Holy Mass worthily and to administer the sacraments without payment.

In 1252 he was entrusted with preaching the crusade. In Dover he consecrated a chapel in honor of Saint Edmund, and shortly afterward, gravely ill, he died there on April 3, 1253. According to tradition, as he was dying he thanked Christ for all his benefits and for the pains and insults the Savior had borne for him. These words are echoed in the prayer of Saint Richard, still said today, which asks to know Christ more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly, day by day.

He was buried in Chichester Cathedral. Pope Alexander IV ordered Richard’s life and miracles to be examined, and Urban IV enrolled him among the saints in January 1262 in Viterbo and set his feast on April 3. On June 16, 1276, in the presence of King Edward I, his relics were moved to a new shrine behind the high altar; it was destroyed in 1538, during the Reformation. In England the saint’s memorial is kept on June 16, and the county of Sussex honors him as its patron.