Saint Richard the Pilgrim

Richard was a nobleman of the West Saxons in eighth-century England, later honored as a king, though little is known of his rule. What is certain is that he was the father of three saints: Willibald, Winebald and Walburga, who all became great missionaries and monastics in Germany alongside their kinsman Saint Boniface.

Around 720, Richard left his home with his sons Willibald and Winebald to make a pilgrimage to Rome and the tombs of the apostles. Crossing France and the Alps, they reached Lucca in Tuscany, where Richard fell ill and died. He was buried in the Church of San Frediano, where his tomb soon became a place of prayer and miracles were reported. His sons continued to Rome, and Willibald later went on to the Holy Land. Richard is remembered as a model of a father who led his children toward God.

Lucca honors him in the Basilica of San Frediano, where his relics rest, and Eichstätt in Germany, where his son Willibald was bishop, also keeps his memory.

His feast is a fitting day to pray for fathers and for pilgrims, and to remember that holiness often grows within a family.