St. Swithun had been Abbot of the monastery
attached to the cathedral, before he was made Bishop of Winchester in AD 852...
He was, say the chroniclers, a diligent builder
of churches in places where there were none before and a repairer of those that
had been destroyed or ruined. He also built a bridge on the east side of the
city and, during the work he made a practice of sitting there to watch the
workmen, that his presence might stimulate their industry.
One of his most edifying miracles is said to
have been performed at this bridge where he restored an old woman's basket of
eggs, which the workmen had maliciously broken.
It is more certain that Swithun was one of the
most learned men of his time and the tutor, successively, of King Aethelwulf of
Wessex
and of his son, the illustrious Alfred.
He died on 2nd July AD 862 and was buried,
according to his own desire, in the churchyard of the Old Minster (Cathedral)
at
Winchester,
where "passers by might tread on his grave and where the rain from the
eaves might fall on it."
His reputation as a weather saint is said to
have arisen from the translation of his body from this lowly grave to its golden
shrine within the Cathedral, having been delayed by incessant rain. Hence the
weather on the festival of his translation (15th July) indicated, according to
the old rhyme, what it would be for the next forty days:
"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."
June and July, however, have their weather
saints in the calendars of
France
and of
Belgium, as well as
in those of other parts of
Europe:
"Quand il pleut a
la Saint Gervais (19th July)
Il pleut quarante jours apres."
Is
the old French proverb, while Wedermaend, the 'month of storms' wa sthe old
Flemish name for July.
St. Swithun had been Abbot of the monastery
attached to the cathedral, before he was made Bishop of Winchester in AD 852...
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