Saint Swithun

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Saint Swithun
Statue of Saint Swithun in the Stavanger Cathedral
Bishop
Born	c. 800 in possibly Hampshire
Died	2 July 862 in Winchester, Hampshire
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion
Major shrine	Winchester Cathedral, now destroyed. Parts survive in cathedral museum. Also modern replacement shrine.
Feast	15 July
Attributes	bishop holding a bridge, broken eggs at his feet
Patronage	Hampshire; Winchester; Southwark; the weather
Saints Portal

Saint Swithun (or Swithin) (died 2 July 862) was an early English Bishop of Winchester, now best known for the popular British weather lore proverb that if it rains on Saint Swithun's day, 15 July, it will rain for 40 days and 40 nights.

St Swithun's day if thou dost rain

For forty days it will remain

St Swithun's day if thou be fair

For forty days 'twill rain na mair

Swithun was buried out of doors, rather than in his cathedral, apparently at his own request, so that the "sweet rain of heaven" could fall on his grave. In 971 it was decided to move his body to a new indoor shrine, and it is said that the ceremony was delayed by 40 days of torrential rain, a sign of Swithun's displeasure at the move.

A Buckinghamshire variation has

If on St Swithun's day it really pours

You're better off to stay indoors.

1 Recorded life
2 Traditional life
3 Veneration
4 Contemporary references
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Recorded life

Saint Swithun was Bishop of Winchester from 852 to 862. However, he is scarcely mentioned in any document of his own time. His death is entered in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 861; and his signature is appended to several charters in Kemble's Codex diplomaticus. Of these charters three belong to 833, 838, 860-862. In the first the saint signs as Swithunus presbyter regis Egberti, in the second as Swithunus diaconus, and in the third as Swithunus episcopus This means that if the second charter is genuine, the first must be wrong, and it is so marked in Kemble. More than a hundred years later, when Dunstan and Æthelwold of Winchester were inaugurating their church reform, Saint Swithun was adopted as patron of the restored church at Winchester, formerly dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. His body was transferred from its almost forgotten grave to Ethelwolds new basilica on 15th July 971, and according to contemporary writers, numerous miracles preceded and followed the move.

[edit] Traditional life

The revival of Saint Swithun's fame gave rise to a mass of legendary literature. The so-called Vitae Swithuni of Lantfred and Wuistan, written about 1000, hardly contain any biographical fact; all that has in later years passed for authentic detail of Saint Swithun's life is extracted from a biography ascribed to Gotzelin, a monk who came over to England with Hermann, bishop of Salisbury from 1058 to 1078. From this writer we learn that Saint Swithun was born in the reign of Egbert of Wessex, and was ordained priest by Helmstan, bishop of Winchester (838c. 852). His fame reached the king's ears, and he appointed him tutor of his son, Ethelwulf (alias Adulphus), and considered him one of his chief friends.

Under Ethelwulf, Swithun was appointed bishop of Winchester, to which see he was consecrated by Archbishop Ceolnoth. In his new office he was known for his piety and his zeal in building new churches or restoring old ones. At his request Ethelwulf gave the tenth of his royal lands to the Church. Swithun made his diocesan journeys on foot; when he gave a banquet he invited the poor and not the rich. His best known miracle was his restoration on a bridge of a basket of eggs that workmen had maliciously broken. He died on 2 July 862, and gave orders that he was not to be buried within the church, but outside in a vile and unworthy place.

William of Malmesbury adds that, if Bishop Alhstan of Sherborne was Ethelwulf's minister for temporal matters, Saint Swithun was the minister for spiritual matters. The same writer recorded the bishop's prayer that his burial might be ubi et pedibus praetereuntium et stillicidiis cox alto rorantibus esset obnoxius. This expression has been taken as indicating that the well-known weather myth about St Swithun was already well-known in the 12th century. However, this is uncertain.

James Raine suggested that the legend was derived from the tremendous downpour of rain that occurred, according to the Durham chroniclers, on Saint Swithun's Day, 1315. Another theory, more plausible, although without proof, traces it to a heavy shower by which, on the day of his move to the new shrine, the saint marked his displeasure towards those who were removing his remains. This story, however, cannot be traced further back than the 17th or 18th century at most. Also, this is at variance with the 10th century writers, who all agreed that the move took place in accordance with the saint's desire expressed in a vision.

More probable is John Earle's suggestion that the legend today comes from a pagan or possibly prehistoric day of augury. In France, Saint Medard (June 8) and Saint Gervase and Saint Protais (June 19) are credited with an influence on the weather almost identical with that attributed to St Swithun in England. In Flanders, there is St Godelieve (July 6) and in Germany the Seven Sleepers' Day (June 27). Of other stories connected with St Swithun the two most famous are those of the Winchester egg-woman and Queen Emma's ordeal. The former is to be found in Gotzelin's life (c. 1100), the latter in Thomas Rudborne's Historia major (15th century), a work which is also responsible for the not improbable legend that Swithun accompanied Alfred on his visit to Rome in 856.

[edit] Veneration

Saint Swithun's day is 15 July. He was moved from his grave to an indoor shrine in the Old Minster at Winchester in 971. His body was probably later split between a number of smaller shrines. His head was certainly detached and, in the Middle Ages, taken to Canterbury Cathedral. Peterborough Abbey also had an arm. His main shrine was transferred into the new Norman cathedral at Winchester in 1093. He was installed on a 'feretory platform' above and behind the high altar. The retrochoir was built in the early 13th century to accommodate the huge numbers of pilgrims wishing to visit his shrine and enter the 'holy hole' beneath him. His empty tomb in the ruins of the Old Minster was also popular with visitors. The shrine was only moved into the retrochoir itself in 1476. It was demolished during the English Reformation. A modern representation of it now stands on the site.

As he was Bishop of Winchester, there are many dedications to Saint Swithun at churches throughout the south of England, especially in Hampshire. An example is the church in Headbourne Worthy to the north of Winchester, probably not a very notable church but its setting is superb: it is surrounded on three sides by a creek that flows from a spring in the village. The lych gate on the south is also a bridge over the creek, which is unusual. There is also one dedicated to him in Lincoln, Lincolnshire.

[edit] Contemporary references

English folk singer Billy Bragg released a song entitled "St. Swithin's Day" on his 1984 E.P. Brewing Up with Billy Bragg. This was covered by Dubstar on Disgraceful in 1995.
British television series Doctor in the House is set at the fictional teaching hospital St Swithin's.
St. Swithin's Day is a comic book written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Paul Grist.
On the television show The Simpsons, Bart mentions Saint Swithun's day in a play he wrote in the episode "Bart of Darkness".
Robin Williams mentions "St Swithin's School for the Prematurely Advanced" on his "Reality, What A Concept" album.