Chad, Bishop of Lichfield, is perhaps best known for NOT being Archbishop of York. He was elected and duly installed, but various persons raised objections, and rather than cause division in the Church he withdrew in favor of the other candidate, Wilfrid. (The objection was that some of the bishops who had consecrated him--although not Chad himself--were holdouts who, even after the Synod of Whitby had supposedly settled the question in 663, insisted on preserving Celtic customs on the date of celebrating Easter and similar questions, instead of conforming to the customs of the remainder of Western Christendom.)
He was soon after made Bishop of Lichfield in Mercia. There he travelled about as he had when Archbishop of York, always on foot (until the Archbishop of Canterbury gave him a horse and ordered him to ride it, at least on long journeys), preaching and teaching wherever he went.
He served there for only two and a half years before his death, but he made a deep impression.
In the following decades, many chapels, and many wells, were constructed in Mercia and named for him. (It was an old custom to dig a well where one was needed, and to mark it with one's own name or another's, that thirsty travellers and others might drink and remember the name with gratitude.)
written by James Kiefer
Heavenly Father, whose son our Lord Jesus Christ took the form of a servant for the sake of his brothers and sisters: Strengthen us with the prayers and example of your servant Chad, who became the least of all to minister to all; through the same Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns, with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.