Dcn Tom Lindell

Greetings my brothers and sisters,

Today, the church calendar celebrates the life and works of Richard of Chichester, bishop of the church and scholar, who is remembered in a shrine in the cathedral of Chichester. Richard was born Richard de Wych in 1197 in Burford, England. The premature death of their parents left him and his brother under feudal wardship because his older brother was not old enough to inherit. Coming of age, his brother did inherit but was required to pay a medieval form of death penalty which left the family impoverished. Richard conveyed his share of the estate to his brother, eschewed an arranged marriage, and left to study at the University of Oxford. After teaching at Oxford, he was further educated in Paris and Bologna, becoming proficient in canon law. 1n 1235, he became chancellor of Oxford University and was later appointed chancellor of the diocese of Canterbury by Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury who was subsequently exiled to France where Richard accompanied him until his death in 1240.

Richard then studied for the priesthood with the Dominicans at Orleans. Returning to England, he was briefly a parish priest until his reappointment as chancellor of Canterbury under Archbishop Boniface. In 1244 he was elected as Bishop of Chichester. King Henry III refused to acknowledge Richard’s election, favoring someone else. When Boniface refused to honor the king’s wishes, the king confiscated the assets of the see (what we call the diocese), and forbade anyone to feed or house Richard. He was ultimately consecrated as bishop in 1245 in Lyons. Under threat of excommunication by the Pope, the king restored full rights to the see in 1246.

Richard was eager to reform the manners and morals of his clergy and introduced greater order and reverence into the services of the Church. He lived a life of rigid frugality and temperance as an ascetic who wore a hairshirt and refused to eat off anything made of silver. He had been a vegetarian since his days at Oxford. His episcopate was marked by favoring the Dominicans in Orleans who sheltered him in his earlier stay in France. After dedicating St Edmund’s Chapel in Dover, where he had been sent by the Pope to preach in support of a new crusade against the Saracean’s (Muslims). He died in Dover shortly thereafter succumbing to a fatal fever in 1253 and was canonized nine years later by Pope Urban IV in 1262. Richard’s tomb at Chichester Cathedral was a popular shrine for pilgrims, where miracles purportedly occurred. Under Henry VIII, his Vicar General, Thomas Cromwell ordered the destruction of the shrine in 1538. It was restored in 1930.

Richard of Chichester is remembered by the popular prayer attributed to him, and later adapted in the Musical Godspell (1971):

Thanks be to Thee my Lord Jesus Christ                     Day by day,
For all the benefits Thou hast given me,                     Dear Lord, of thee three
O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,         things I pray:
May I know Thee more clearly,                              To see thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,                                           Love thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly.                                       Follow thee more nearly,
                                                                                 Day by Day.

—Dcn Tom