The king was dead.
He was 1,000 miles from home, on pilgrimage in a foreign land. But instead of landing in an unmarked grave, far from anyone who would remember him, this king was venerated by the strangers around him.
They buried him with reverence in their own basilica. They prayed at the tomb of the foreign king, confident that he heard them from paradise. And he did. Miracles started to happen. Graces and answers to prayer flowed from the spot.
The people of Lucca knew that Richard was a powerful saint sent to them by God.
But…how did he get there in the first place?
Richard was from England. He ruled the old Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. Tradition holds that he’s the father of three early British saints—Willibald, Winnibald, and Walpurga.
In 720 A.D., towards the end of his life, Richard decided to travel to Rome. Renouncing his throne, he set off on the journey—accompanied by his two sons—and got as far as Lucca, Italy. There he fell sick. His ensuing illness and holy death inspired in those around him the devotion that prevails today.
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