Richard Caister

Caister was born in the middle of the 14th century in either Caistor St Edmund or Caister-on-Sea.[1]

In 1385 Caister was admitted to Merton Priory in Surrey (now in Greater London), where he was educated for ordained ministry.[1] It is likely that, after ordination, he spent 10 years as a monk of Norwich Cathedral Priory.[1] From 1397 to 1402 he was Vicar of St Mary's Church, Sedgeford, and from 1402 to his death in 1420 he was Vicar of St Stephen's Church, Norwich.[2]

While Vicar of St Stephen's, Caister was confessor to the mystic Margery Kempe, and he is mentioned a number of times in The Book of Margery Kempe.[1] Kempe describes how she was commanded by a direction from Christ to go to St Stephen's and for Caister to become her confessor.[3] Caister defended Kempe when she was tried by the Bishop of Norwich Henry le Despenser for Lollardy.[1]

Caister's only extant work is a metrical hymn which begins Jesu, Lord thou madest me,[1] for which a choral setting has been written.[4] Jesu, Lord thou madest me was written in English; as was the Revelations of Divine Love written by Julian of Norwich, who was both Caister's contemporary and neighbour.[1]

The late 16th- and early 17th-century Roman Catholic scholar John Pits attributed to Caister lost works on the Ten Commandments and on the meditations of Saint Bernard.[1]

Caister was buried in the chancel of St Stephen's, and his burial place became a focus for pilgrimage throughout the 15th century.[1] Kempe records that, even during his lifetime, Caister was a "holy man … whom God has exalted and showed and proved by miracles to be holy."[3] After Caister's death, Kempe travelled to St Stephen's to pray for the healing of a priest. The priest was healed, and it is likely that this led to Caister's burial place becoming a shrine for pilgrimage in the latter half of the 15th century.[1] The late 16th- and early 17th-century Roman Catholic scholar John Pits in his De Illustribus Angliae scriptoribus states that "both during [Caister’s] life and after his death [was] renowned for many miracles."[1] St Stephen's was rebuilt in the 16th century, and Caister's burial place is now unmarked.[5]

Numerous designs[6] of pilgrim badges of Caister survive, with examples held in collections in the British Museum,[7] Museum of London,[8] and Lynn Museum,[9]

The strongly partisan Protestant John Bale (Bishop of Ossory during the reign of Edward VI) claimed Caister as having Wycliffite views.[1]

Having become an almost-forgotten figure,[10] awareness of Caister was revived in 2020, for the 600th anniversary of his death, by St Stephen's, which hosted the Richard Caister Project as a celebration of his life and legacy.[11] The Project included a number of lectures on Caister and related subjects.[12]