There are 39 churches dedicated to him in Britain, and worldwide just two cathedrals - one at Winchester and the other at Stavanger, in Norway. Swithin (or, more correctly, Swithun) was a prominent character in ninth century Wessex, born in or around the year 800 in Winchester, a cleric and adviser to King Aethelwulf by the time he was 40, and in his later years a mentor to the young Alfred. In 852 he became the 19th Bishop of Winchester, a position he held till his death ten years later.
His sainthood owes everything to popular consent and nothing to decrees from Rome, so Swithun's name does not figure beyond our shores, either in the various church calendars or among ecclesiastical dedications, save at Stavanger (and one small church in the northern suburbs of Sydney). St Swithun's Cathedral at Stavanger was founded by a peripatetic Winchester monk, Reinald, early in thetwelfth century. St Swithun's feast-day is, of course, celebrated on July 15, which this year falls on Saturday.
Even if you knew nothing before about Swithun the man or Swithun the saint, you will surely know the ancient weather lore associated with his feast-day. Should it rain on this day, the rhymes tell us, it will carry on raining for 40 days - until August 23 to be precise. The 18th century writer, John Gay put it this way:
"Now if on Swithun's feast the welkin lours And every penthouse streams with hasty showers, Twice twenty days shall clouds their fleeces drain And wash the pavement with incessant rain."
But why should the story of Swithun have become so entangled with the meteorological elements? The legend explains it thus. As he lay dying, Swithun asked that he be buried, not with his episcopal predecessors in a prominent place within the cathedral, but outside in a simple tomb, "where the sweet rain of heaven may fall upon my grave."
It is said that his successor bishop, Aethelwold, and perhaps King Edgar too, considered it unworthy for such an important figure to be buried outside, and a great ceremony was arranged to translate Swithun's remains to a magnificent shrine in the church. This ceremony took place on July 15 in the year 971, but following a period of drought a tremendous rainstorm ruined the proceedings and the weather remained abnormally rainy for several weeks thereafter. This disaster was viewed as an indication of divine displeasure, and Swithun's bones were left where they were.
Historical and archaeological evidence only partially support the story. Swithun's original tomb has been excavated, but his remains were, it seems, moved to a new site in the old minster, and subsequently to the new cathedral which replaced it at the end of the 11th century.
© Philip Eden