Whiting graduated as M.A. from Cambridge University in 1483. He was ordained deacon in 1500 and priest in 1501. After the death of the previous abbot of Glastonbury, Richard Beere, in February 1525, the community decided to elect his successor per formam compromissi, which elevates the selection to a higher ranking personage - in this case Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Wolsey obtained King Henry's permission to act and chose Richard Whiting. The first ten years of Whiting's rule were prosperous and peaceful. He was a sober and caring spiritual leader and a good manager of the abbey's day-to-day life. During the period of the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry sent Richard Layton to examine Whiting and the inhabitants of the abbey. He found all in good order, but suspended the abbot's jurisdic