In 1581, Father Edmund Campion paid him a visit, and while staying in his house composed the famous "Decem Rationes" and urged him to join the Society of Jesus. Richard entered the Society of Jesus in 1583 and crossed the English Channel to participate in his Spiritual Exercises with Father Thomas Derbyshire. He fulfilled the requirements of his noviceship at Verdun and continued on to Pont-à-Mousson to continue his studies. There he was one of three out of thirteen contemporaries who survived the black plague. After four years spent studying theology at the University of Pont-à-Mousson, he was appointed superior of the Scots College there, in about 1587.