RICHARD OF WYCHE (of CHICHESTER), St. — Bishop of Chichester, born at Droitwich (Worcestershire) c. 1197, died at Dover on 3 April 1253.
He studied at Oxford and Paris, then law at Bologna, earning a reputation for outstanding intellect and learning. Upon his return to his homeland, he was elected chancellor of the University of Oxford. Called to serve as chancellor of trust to St. Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, he followed him faithfully even into exile at Pontigny and assisted him until his death. When the bishop of Chichester died in 1244, the chapter elected Richard as his successor; but King Henry III, indignant, imposed his favorite Robert Passelewe and deprived Richard of the temporalities of the see. Richard brought the matter before Innocent IV, then at Lyon, who took up his cause, consecrated him bishop in person (2 March 1245), and sent him back to England. But Henry III refused to accept this; thus Richard had to remain for about two years as a guest in a private household. Despite this, he neglected none of his episcopal duties: he issued statutes to regulate the life of the clergy, divine worship, the administration of the sacraments, and the privileges of the Church; he promoted the growth of religious orders and their activity among the people. In 1246, the king, moved also by the Pope’s threats of spiritual penalties, restored the temporalities to Richard, which enabled him to increase his almsgiving to the poor, while living himself in austere poverty.
In 1250 he was appointed collector of subsidies for the Crusade, and in 1252 preacher of the Crusade in London. At Dover, where he had gone to consecrate a church to St. Edmund, he was struck by a mortal fever and, taken to the Maison Dieu hospital, he died there. Among his writings is noteworthy an account of the dispute between St. Edmund and Richard III concerning the revenues of vacant sees, published by Matthew Paris in his *Historia maior* (ed. Madden, in *Rolls series*, II and III, London 1866). He was solemnly canonized at Viterbo by Urban IV on 22 January 1262. Feast: 3 April.