St. Richard

St. Richard of Chichester, also known as St. Richard of Wyche, was born in the town of Wyche in England, and was orphaned when he was very young. He took up farming his elder brother's estates, and, according to legend, the brother offered him all of the lands and a marriage arrangement, but Richard refused them for the life of study and the church. Educated at Oxford, he soon began to teach in the university, of which he became chancellor, probably after he had studied in Paris and in Bologna. About 1235 he became chancellor of the diocese of Canterbury under Archbishop Edmund Rich, and he was with the archbishop during his exile in France. In 1244 he was elected Bishop of Chichester, being consecrated at Lyons by Pope Innocent IV in March 1245. He died at Dover on April 3, 1253.

St. Richard is a patron of coachmen, possibly because he drove carts and wagons on the family farm. His Feast Day is April 3.