Saint Richard was born near Burford, near the town of Wyche (modern Droitwich, Worcestershire) and was an orphan member of a gentry family.

[1][2] On the death of their parents Richard's elder brother was heir to the estates but he was not old enough to inherit, so the lands were subject to a feudal wardship.

On coming of age his brother took possession of his lands, but was required to pay a medieval form of death duty that left the family so impoverished that Richard had to work for him on the farm.

[7] Upon returning to England, Richard became the parish priest at Charing and at Deal, but soon was reappointed chancellor of Canterbury by the new archbishop Boniface of Savoy.

[7] The king confiscated the see's properties and revenues, but Innocent IV confirmed Richard's election and consecrated him bishop at Lyons in March 1245.

[10] Richard's episcopate was marked by the favour which he showed to the Dominicans, a house of this order at Orléans having sheltered him during his stay in France, and by his earnestness in preaching a crusade.

Richard's body was then carried to Chichester and buried, according to his wishes, in the chapel on the north side of the nave, dedicated to his patron St.

[14] After the full rights of the see and its revenues were returned to him in 1246, the new bishop showed much eagerness to reform the manners and morals of his clergy, and also to introduce greater order and reverence into the services of the Church.

When townsmen of Lewes violated the right of sanctuary by seizing a criminal in church and lynching him, Richard made them exhume the body and give it a proper burial in consecrated ground.

[15] Richard produced a body of statutes with the aid of his chapter, for the organisation of the church in his diocese and the expected conduct of its clergy.

By Richard's statutes [the following is a close paraphrase not an exact quote]:[11] It was decreed that married clergy should be deprived of their benefices; their concubines were to be denied the privileges of the church during their lives and also after death; they were pronounced incapable of inheriting any property from their husbands, and any such bequests would be donated for the upkeep of the cathedral.

The Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer were to be learned in the mother tongue; priests were to celebrate mass in clean robes, to use a silver or golden chalice; thoroughly clean corporals and at least two consecrated palls were to be placed on the altar; the cross was to be planted in front of the celebrant; the bread was to be of the purest wheaten flour, the wine mixed with water.

The elements were not to be kept more than seven days; when carried to a sick person to be enclosed in a pyx, and the priest to be preceded by a cross; a candle, holy water and bell.

They were to visit the churches regularly, to see that the services were duly ministered, the vessels and vestments were in proper order, the canon of the mass correctly observed and distinctly read, as also the hours.

A copy of these statutes was to be kept by every priest in the diocese and be brought by him to the episcopal synod.It was generally believed that miracles were wrought at Richard's tomb in Chichester cathedral, which was long a popular place of pilgrimage, and in 1262, just 9 years after his death, he was canonized at Viterbo by Pope Urban IV.

[19] Forasmuch as we have lately been informed that in our cathedral church of Chichester there hath been used long heretofore, and yet at this day is used, much superstition and a certain kind of idolatry about the shrine and bones of a certain bishop of the same, whom they call Saint Richard, and a certain resort there of common people, which being men of simplicity are seduced by the instigation of some of the clergy, who take advantage of their credulity to ascribe miracles of healing and other virtues to the said bones, that God only hath authority to grant.

[20] The Shrine of St. Richard had, up to this point, enjoyed a level of popularity approaching that accorded to Thomas Becket at Canterbury.

[21] One of the royal commissioners for the destruction of St. Richard's Shrine, William Ernley, was associated with the parish of West Wittering in Sussex.

It is here that local tradition holds remains of the saint are to be found: The Lady Chapel not only contains the Saxon Cross but also an ancient broken marble slab engraved with a Bishop's pastoral staff and a Greek cross believed to have come from a reliquary containing the relics of St. Richard of Chichester, a 13th century bishop who often visited West Wittering.

Part of his story is shown in the beautiful red, white and gold altar frontal presented by Yvonne Rusbridge in 1976.

[22]The modern St Richard's Shrine is located in the retro-quire of Chichester cathedral and was re-established in 1930 by Dean Duncan Jones.

[24] After examination, to establish its provenance, the relic was offered to Bishop Eric Kemp and received into the cathedral on 15 June 1990.

[26] The words were transcribed, in Latin, by his confessor Ralph Bocking, a Dominican friar, and were eventually published in the Acta Sanctorum, an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints.

[26][28] The author who is credited with translating the prayer from the original Acta Sanctorum and bringing it to public notice, was Cecil Headlam in 1898.

Observance of the memorial of Saint Richard of Chichester on 16 June is inscribed in the calendar of Divine Worship: The Missal and the following Collect is provided: MOST merciful Redeemer, who gavest to thy Bishop Richard a love of learning, a zeal for souls, and a devotion to the poor: grant that, encouraged by his example, and aided by his prayers, we may know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly, day by day; who livest and reignest with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end.