About St Richard (part2)

Justice at last

At last in 1247, the King relented and, amid the rejoicing of the people, Richard, receiving the powerful support of the pope, though deprived of the use both of the cathedral and the bishop's palace, took up his residence at Chichester, and on a borrowed horse travelled through his diocese. He called many synods during his travels, and drew up what are known as the Constitutions of Saint Richard, statutes that address the various abuses that he noticed in his travels. The sacraments were to be administered without payment, Mass celebrated with dignity, and the clergy to remain celibate, practice residence, and wear clerical garb. The laity were obliged to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days and to memorize the Hail Mary, Our Father, and Creed. With great charity and humility he carried on his work until the king reluctantly yielded to a peremptory order of the pope to restore the revenues of the bishopric. With his temporalities restored, Richard had the means to become a great alms-giver. Richard was an able administrater as well as a holy man, and expected high standards from the clergy, although he defended their rights. He denounced nepotism and was ever generous to the poor and needy. His final task was a commission from the pope to undertake a preaching mission for the Crusade throughout the kingdom. He began preaching the Crusade in his own church at Chichester and proceeded as far as Dover. It was here, after he had dedicated a church to his friend Saint Edmund and sung matins, he was taken ill.

Death of Richard

Richard died at midnight on April 3rd , in his 56th year, at the Maison- Dieu, a house for poor priests and pilgrims. He was with his friends Simon of Tarring, William his Chaplain and Friar Ralph Bocking. If Richard was a thorn in the side of an avaricious king, he was a saint to his flock, whose affection he won during his eight-year episcopate. Many miracles of healing were recorded during his lifetime, and many more after his death. Richard was deep in the hearts of his people, the sort of saint that anyone can recognize by his simplicity, holiness, and endless charity to the poor. Richard built a magnificent tomb for his friend, Saint Edmund, and was himself buried there after his death. In 1276, his body was translated to a separate tomb that erected for him behind the high altar of Chichester cathedral, which became one of the most popular pilgrimage places in England. It was utterly destroyed in 1538 by the Reformers, and his body was buried secretly. His biography was written by one of his clergy, Ralph Bocking

Representation of Richard

In art, Saint Richard is portrayed as a bishop blessing his people with a chalice by him, because he once dropped the chalice during a Mass, which remained unspilt. He may be shown (1) with the chalice at his feet; (2) kneeling with the chalice before him; (3) ploughing his brother's fields; or (4) blessing (Roeder). Unexpectedly, he is the patron of the coachmen's guild in Milan, Italy, presumably because he drove carts on his family farm (Farmer).

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.......St Richard Continued [ BACK ] Family First - Interruption of Studies Richard's surname was Backedine, but he is better known as Richard Wyche or 'of Wich.' He was born into a family who held property and were counted among the minor nobility. Even as a toddler Richard haunted holy Mass. At five, standing on a chair, he was already preaching sermons: "Be good; if you are good, God will love you; if you are not good, God will not love you." A little simplistic but what do you expect of a five-year old? His knowledge of Latin amazed the pastor and the fervor of his prayers confounded his mother. His parents decided that the fruits of the earth would go to the eldest son, but those of heaven would go to the youngest--he would belong to the Church.
	Richard's parents died while he was still small, and the heavily mortgaged family estate was left to his elder brother, who had no gift for management. The brother allowed the land to fall into ruin.
When Richard was old enough, he left his studies with the Benedictines at Worcester and came home to help restore the family fortunes. He served his brother out of kindness as a laborer to help rebuild the estate. He actually tilled the land for a time, and directed the replanting of the ruined gardens. In time his management paid off, and the property was restored to its former value.His brother wanted to give it to Richard, but Richard only wanted to spend time with his books. Abandoning the estates and the possibility of a marriage to a wealthy bride, Richard went off to the newly opened Oxford University to resume his neglected studies.
Back to Studies At Oxford he became acquainted with the Dominicans who had arrived in 1221, Franciscans such as Grosseteste, and St Edmund Rich, who was then chancellor of the university and became one of Richard's lifelong friends.
Later, he went to Paris as a student of theology, and was so poor that he shared a room with two others. They lived on bread and porridge, and having only one good coat between them, they could only go one at a time to lectures, wearing it in turn, while the others remained at home. Despite the hardships of life, though, he said later that never in his life had he been so happy or felt such joy and peace of soul as during those years as a student at Oxford.
Study Abroad After taking his degree in Paris and finishing his master's degree at Oxford, he studied Roman and canon law at Bologna for seven years. There he received his doctorate and the esteem of many. When one of his tutors offered to make Richard his heir and give him his daughter in marriage, Richard, who felt called to a celibate life, made a courteous excuse and returned to Oxford at age 38. In 1235, he was appointed chancellor of the university and then of the diocese of Oxford by Saint Edmund, who had become archbishop of Canterbury. Richard remained in close contact with Saint Edmund during the long years of Edmund's conflict with the English king and, in fact, followed him into exile in France and nursed him until Edmund's death in 1240 at the Cistercian monastery of Pontigny. After Edmund died, he taught at the Dominican house of studies in Orléans for two years, where he was ordained a priest in 1242 and lived in the Dominican community until his return to England in 1243. At which time he served briefly as a parish priest at Charing and at Deal. Elected Bishop In 1244, Ralph Neville, bishop of Chichester died. Thus it came about that the king nominated a courtier, Robert Passelewe, to the bishopric of Chichester and pressured the canons to elect him. However, the new archbishop, Blessed Boniface of Savoy, refused to confirm appointment and called a chapter of his suffragans, who declared the election invalid.
	Instead they chose Richard Backedine, who had been chancellor to archbishops Edmund Rich and Boniface of Savoy and who was the primate's nominee, to fill the vacant see. This roused the anger of the king, who retaliated by confiscating the cathedral revenues. It was a case in which retreat would be pure cowardice, so Richard accepted the unwelcome office and set about doing his best with it.
At first he was almost starved out of office because the king, who already had the church revenues, forbade anyone to give Richard food or shelter. No bishop dared to consecrate him and, after a year of mendicant existence, he went to receive episcopal consecration from Pope Innocent IV, who was presiding over the Council of Lyons, on March 5, 1245.
Justice at last At last in 1247, the King relented and, amid the rejoicing of the people, Richard, receiving the powerful support of the pope, though deprived of the use both of the cathedral and the bishop's palace, took up his residence at Chichester, and on a borrowed horse travelled through his diocese. He called many synods during his travels, and drew up what are known as the Constitutions of Saint Richard, statutes that address the various abuses that he noticed in his travels. The sacraments were to be administered without payment, Mass celebrated with dignity, and the clergy to remain celibate, practice residence, and wear clerical garb. The laity were obliged to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days and to memorize the Hail Mary, Our Father, and Creed. With great charity and humility he carried on his work until the king reluctantly yielded to a peremptory order of the pope to restore the revenues of the bishopric. With his temporalities restored, Richard had the means to become a great alms-giver. Richard was an able administrater as well as a holy man, and expected high standards from the clergy, although he defended their rights. He denounced nepotism and was ever generous to the poor and needy. His final task was a commission from the pope to undertake a preaching mission for the Crusade throughout the kingdom. He began preaching the Crusade in his own church at Chichester and proceeded as far as Dover. It was here, after he had dedicated a church to his friend Saint Edmund and sung matins, he was taken ill. Death of Richard Richard died at midnight on April 3rd , in his 56th year, at the Maison- Dieu, a house for poor priests and pilgrims. He was with his friends Simon of Tarring, William his Chaplain and Friar Ralph Bocking. If Richard was a thorn in the side of an avaricious king, he was a saint to his flock, whose affection he won during his eight-year episcopate. Many miracles of healing were recorded during his lifetime, and many more after his death. Richard was deep in the hearts of his people, the sort of saint that anyone can recognize by his simplicity, holiness, and endless charity to the poor. Richard built a magnificent tomb for his friend, Saint Edmund, and was himself buried there after his death. In 1276, his body was translated to a separate tomb that erected for him behind the high altar of Chichester cathedral, which became one of the most popular pilgrimage places in England. It was utterly destroyed in 1538 by the Reformers, and his body was buried secretly. His biography was written by one of his clergy, Ralph Bocking Representation of Richard In art, Saint Richard is portrayed as a bishop blessing his people with a chalice by him, because he once dropped the chalice during a Mass, which remained unspilt. He may be shown (1) with the chalice at his feet; (2) kneeling with the chalice before him; (3) ploughing his brother's fields; or (4) blessing (Roeder). Unexpectedly, he is the patron of the coachmen's guild in Milan, Italy, presumably because he drove carts on his family farm (Farmer). [ BACK ]