High Middle Ages (13th century)
Feast: June 3
A poor farm boy who worked his way through Oxford, became Bishop of Chichester, and wrote one of Christianity's best-loved prayers.
Richard grew up working on his family's farm near Worcester after his parents died young. He was so poor at Oxford that he and two friends shared a single tunic — they took turns wearing it to lectures. He studied in Paris and Bologna, then returned to England and eventually became chancellor of Canterbury under Archbishop Edmund Rich. When he was elected Bishop of Chichester, King Henry III refused to accept him and installed his own candidate. Richard spent two years locked out of his own cathedral, traveling his diocese on foot, living off the charity of parish priests. The pope finally forced Henry to back down. As bishop, Richard insisted that priests live in their parishes instead of collecting income from afar, that sacraments be administered properly, and that the poor be fed. He was not flashy about it — just steady and stubborn. He died in 1253 while preaching a crusade. His prayer — 'Day by day, dear Lord, three things I pray: to see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, follow thee more nearly' — was set to music in the 1970s as the song 'Day by Day' from Godspell and is still prayed in churches worldwide.