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each one and restored them to whole. And that’s it!
It was what happened after his death that made him
both a saint and a household name among the British.
Swithin, ever humble, had asked to be buried in
non-consecrated ground, a “vile and unworthy place”
outside his cathedral where he’d be walked over and
rained on as a mark of his humility. And that is
exactly what happened but a hundred years after his
death, during building works at Winchester his remains
were moved inside the cathedral to the elaborate tomb
pictured to the right.
On 15 July as the monks were exhuming his remains
the skies opened and it rained for the next 40 days.
The monks acknowledged this as a sign from Swithin
but they still buried him inside the cathedral
nonetheless. Swithin’s tomb became one of the most
popular shrines for pilgrims and as part of the
mediaeval industry that was pilgrimage his head was
sent to Canterbury and an arm to Peterborough Abbey.
Legend has it that each time he was exhumed the
heavens opened and down came the rain for 40 days.
Modern meteorological science supports the legend
of St Swithin’s Day with a recognisable pattern of a
six-week period of settled weather from mid July.
So if its dry on the 15
th
it is likely that it’ll stay dry,
but if it rains, chances are it’ll continue to rain. On a
slightly sad note a small survey conducted by yours
truly discovers that younger folk don't know about St
Swithin. He’s disappearing off the radar of the young
along with such folk as Dr Stanley & Mr Livingstone.
Like men the world over our pagan ancestors
performed rituals to try and influence the weather.
Meteorological patterns, especially sun and thunder
were seen as divine and from the early Bronze Age
the spoked wheel was used to represent the sun.
When the Roman Empire met the Iron Age Celts of
Europe the Roman sun god Jupiter merged with the
symbol of the local sun-god, a cross inside a circle.
Alters decorated with sun-cross wheels have been
found all along sun starved Hadrians Wall.
A Somewhat Underwhelming Miracle
Although last year seems to prove otherwise, this
isn’t especially a rainy country. We’re 48
th
in the
world rain rankings - Cherrapunji in India in the
Khasi Hills (tee-hee) is the wettest with an
incredible 498 inches - that’s more than 40 feet!
Britain is not even in the top ten for Europe with a
mere 23.3 inches compared to Zurich’s 42.3 inches.
But the Christian rain saint is our chap St Swithin
who lived in the 9
th
century. Swithin was appointed
Bishop of Winchester by King Egbert of Wessex
having done a sterling job tutoring his son.
A humble and pious fellow, Bishop Swithin only
ever travelled on foot and always refused to dine in
the company of bigwigs reserving place at his table
strictly for the poor. He rebuilt churches sacked by
the Vikings but his single miracle is really quite odd
and, if I may say, a tad underwhelming. Witnessing
some uncouth labourers at work on a new bridge
smash the eggs of a passing woman, he touched
Bronze Age sky wheel from
Little Thetford in Norfolk