Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/69

 RICHARD

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RICHARD

Seal of Richard de Bury

named after his birthplace. He studied at Oxford, and became a Benedictine. Having been appointed tutor to Prince Edward, son of Edward II and Isabella of France, he was exposed to some danger during the stormy scenes that led to the deposition of the king. On the accession of his pupil to the throne (1327), do Bury eventually rose to be Bishop of Durham (1333), High Chancellor (1334), and Treasurer of England (1336). He was sent on two embassies to John XXII at Avignon, and on one of his visits, probably in 1330, he made the acquaintance of the poet Petrarch. He continued to en- joy the favour of the king, and in his later years took a prominent part in the diplomatic negotiations with Scotland and France. He died at his manor of -Vuckland, and was buried in the ca- thedral of Dur- ham. He founded Durham College at Oxford, and ac- cording to tradi- tion bequeathed to its library most of the books which he had spent his life in collecting. There they re- mained until the dissolution of the College by Henry VIII. They were then scattered, some going to Balliol College, others to the university (Duke Humphrey's) library, and still others pa.ssing into the possession of Dr. George Owen, the purchaser of the site whereon the dissolved college had stood. These books were of course all in manu- script, for the art of printing had not yet been dis- covered.

Bale mentions three of de Bury's works, namely: "Philobiblon"; " Epistola? Famiharium " ; and "Ora- tiones ad Principes ". It is by the ' ' Philobiblon ' ' that he is principally remembered. It was first printed at Cologne in 1473, then at Spires in 1483, in Paris in 1500, and at Oxford in 1598-99. Subsequent editions were made in Germany in 1610, 1614, 1674, and 1703, and in Paris in 1856. It was translated into English in 1832 by J. B. Inglis, and of this translation a reprint was made at Albany, New York, in 1861. The stand- ard Latin text — the result of a collation of 28 manu- scripts and of the printed editions — was established by Ernest C. Thomas and edited by him, with English translation, in 1888. A reprint of Thomas's transla- tion appeared in the "Past and Present" Library in 1905.

Bishop Richard had a threefold object in writing the "Philobiblon": he wished to inculcate on the clergy the pursuit of learning and the cherishing of books as its receptacles; to vindicate to his contemporaries and to posterity his own action in devoting so much time, attention, and money to the acquisition of books; and to give directions for the management of the li- brary which he proposed to establish at Durham College, Oxford. The work is important for its side- lights on the state of learning and manners and on the habits of the clergy in fourteenth-century England. He is the true type of the book-lover. He had a library in each of his residences. Conspicuous in his legacy are Greek and Hebrew grammars. He did not despise the novelties of the moderns, but he preferred the well-tested labours of the ancients, and, while he

did not neglect the poets, he had but little use for law- books. He kept copyists, scribes, binders, correctors, and illuminators, and he was particularly careful to restore defaced or battered texts. His directions for the lending and care of the books intended for his college at Oxford are minute, and evince considerable practical forethought. His humility and simple faith are shown in the concluding chapter, in which he acknowledges his sins and asks the future students of his college to pray for the repose of his soul.

Bale, Scriptorum Illustrium majoris Britannia:, quam nunc Angliam el Scotiam vacant, Catalogus (Basle, 1557); Warton, History of English Poetry, I, 14G; IIallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries; Thomas, The Philobiblon newly translated, published under the title of The Love of Books in the Past and Present Library (1905); Surtees Society, edition of Scriptores Tres; Wharton, Anglia Sacra; Cambridge Modern History, I, xvii; The Cambridge History of English Literature, II, 410; Bladeb, The Enemies of Books; Clark, The Care of Books.

P. J. Lennox.

Richard de la Vergne, Fran5ois-Marie-Ben- JAMiN, Archbishop of Paris, b. at Nantes, 1 March, 1819; d. in Paris, 28 January, 1908. Educated at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice he became in 1849 secre- tary to Bishop Jacquemet at Nantes, then, from 1850 to 1869, vicar-general. In 1871 he became Bishop of Bel ley where he began the process for the beatifi- cation of the Cure d'Ars. On 7 May, 1875, he became coadjutor of Cardinal Guibert, Archbishop of Paris, whom he succeeded 8 July, 1886, becoming cardinal with the title of Santa Maria in Via, 24 May, 1889. He devoted much energy to the completion of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Montmartre, which he consecrated. Politically, Cardinal Richard was attached by ties of esteem and svmpathy to the Monarchist Catholics. In 1892, when Leo XIII recommended the rallying of Catholics to the Repub- lic (see France, The Third Republic and the Church in France), the cardinal created the "Union of Christian France" (Union de la France Chretienne), to unite all Catholics on the sole basis of the defence of religion. The Monarchists opposed tliis "rallying" {Ralliement) with the policy which this union represented, and at last, at the pope's desire, the union was dissolved. On many occasions Cardinal Richard spoke in defence of the religious congregations, and Leo XIII addressed to him a letter (27 December, 1900) on the religious who were menaced by the then projected Law of As- sociations. In the domain of hagiography he earned distinction by his "Vie de la bienheureuse Fran^oise d'Amboise" (1865) and "Saints de I'^glise de Bre- tagne" (1872).

L'ipiscopat fran(ais, 1802-190S, s. v. Belley, Paris; Leca- NUET, L'Eglise de France sous la troisikme republique, II (Paris,

1910)- Georges Goyau.

Richard de Wyche, Saint, bishop and confessor, b. about 1197 at Droitwich, Worcestershire, from which his surname is derived; d. 3 April, 12.53, at Dover. He was the second son of Richard and Alice de Wyche. His father died while he was still young and the family property fell into a state of great dilapida- tion. His elder brother offered to resign the inheri- tance to him, but Richard refused the offer, although he undertook the management of the estate and soon restored it to a good condition. He went to Oxford, where he and two companions lived in such poverty that they had only one tunic and hooded gown be- tween them, in which they attended lectures by turns. He then went to Paris and on his return proceeded Master of Arts. At Bologna he studied canon law, in which he acquired a great reputation and was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

His learning and sanctity were so famed that Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lmcoln, both offered him the post of chancellor of their respective dioceses. Richard accepted the archbishop's offer and thenceforward