In 669, King Wulfere demanded a bishop for his people in Merica. St. Chad was called on by St. Theodore of Tarsus to be archpastor of the Mercian people. This was a land of deeply rooted pagan beliefs. St. Chad considered this to be his true work, bringing the Mercian people to Christ. He soon discovered that a great persecution occured on the plains of Lichfield, deep within the Mercian lands. The Roman emperor [[Diocletian]] had exterminated 1000 martyrs on the plains of Lichfield in the year 303A.D, they are know as the [[Martyrs of Lichfield]]. St. Chad considering this to be a holy place move the See of Mercia from [[Wikipedia:Repton ]] to exact spot of the massacre in Lichfield where his diocesan Cathedral and Monastery were built. St. Chad is considered the first bishop of Lichfield.

As Bishop of Lichfield, Chad carried out his missionary and pastoral work with zeal. The kingdom of Mercia was huge, and Chad spent much of his time travelling by foot. In accordance with the Celtic tradition in which he had been brought up, he at first insisted on making all journeys on foot, following the example of the apostles. However, St. Theodore insisted that Chad used a horse for long journeys. St. Chad, unwilling to do anything that he felt would put him above the common man, refused, but Theodore, St. Bede tells us, lifted Chad bodily onto the horse himself.