The Bishop of Southwark went to Slindon, Sussex. on Tuesday, and consecrated the Church of St. Richard there as part of diocesan celebrations commemorating the 700th anniversary of the death of St. Richard of Chichester.
St. Richard. who was made Bishop of Chichester in 1245, is in a sense a predecessor of the Bishop of Southwark, because the old bishopric of Chichester is now part of Southwark diocese.
After St. Richard's body had been taken to Chichester Cathedral in 1276, 14 years after his canonisation, his shrine there remained a centre of
pilgrimage until the tithe of Henry VIII.
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Another commemoration of the saint's anniversary. as of his newly consecrated church at Slindon. is the publication of an historical pamphlet about Slindon Parish by the parish priest. Fr. Michael Costello.
This shows Slindon to have an ancient and distinguished Catholic history of its own. Archbishops of Canterbury have lived there, and one of them. Stephen Langton. the real author of Magna Charta, died there. St. Thomas More is believed to have spent some time in Slindon as a page. and St. Mary's Church there may originally have been built by St. Ansclm.