Richard of Chichester (1197 – 1253), also known as Richard de Wych, is a saint (canonized 1262) who was Bishop of Chichester. He was born near Droitwich (then called Wyche), Worcestershire.
“Poor little creatures,” exclaimed Saint Richard when confronted with animals bound for slaughter. “If you were reasoning beings and could speak you would curse us. For we are the cause of your death, and what have you done to deserve it?” (Quoted in Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, vol. II: April, May, June, Burns & Oates, 1956, p. 24.)
Richard kept his diet simple and rigorously excluded animal flesh; having been a vegan/vegetarian since his days at Oxford University. He led a life of rigid frugality and temperance: he was an ascetic who wore a hair-shirt and refused to eat off silver.
In Chichester Cathedral a shrine dedicated to Richard had become a richly decorated centre of pilgrimage. In 1538, during the reign of Henry VIII, the shrine was plundered and destroyed by order of Thomas Cromwell. Richard of Chichester is the patron saint of Sussex in southern England; since 2007, his translated saint's day of 16 June has been celebrated as Sussex Day. Saint Edmund’s Chapel, Dover, is the only Building still standing consecrated by an English canonised saint to the honour of an English saint. A statue of St. Richard of Chichester can also be found in Vines Park in Droitwich, Worcestershire. It was erected in 1935 to celebrate the silver jubilee of King George V.
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