Saint Swithun Image: Catholic Forum.
'Any saint associated with the weather is bound to get the British vote.'

Andrew Chapman explores the life and legends of a saint particularly dear to the British.

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.

Any saint associated with the weather - and Swithun or Swithin has long been known as a patron of weather, particularly rain and drought relief - is bound to get the British vote, and of course he was British himself.

Not a great deal is known for sure about his life, but he was definitely Bishop of Winchester, and seems to have been native to Hampshire, in the time of Egbert of Wessex, and probably born around the year 800.

The first 'biography' was written a couple of hundred years later, so is of dubious historical merit. It tells us that he was ordained by a previous bishop of Winchester, Helmstan, and appointed tutor to King Egbert's son Ethelwulf.

He maintained a close friendship with Ethelwulf, we are told, and the latter oversaw Swithun's own appointment as bishop in 852, as well as allowing himself to be persuaded by Swithin to give a tenth of his royal lands to the Church.

Piety

Swithun himself was renowned for his piety and his enthusiasm for restoring or building churches. He died, it is believed, on 2 July 862 (though St Swithun's Day is 15 July), asking to be buried outside so that the 'sweet rain of heaven' might fall on him.

Despite this humble wish, his grave was moved a century or so later to a shrine in the minster at Winchester, and later to the new Norman cathedral there; his head supposedly went to Canterbury and an arm to Peterborough.

From his life, only one miracle has been particularly remembered, when he restored a woman's basket of eggs broken by workmen. After it, and supposedly the origin of the weather rhyme, its is said to have rained for 40 days when his shrine was moved indoors. (His shrine at the cathedral was destroyed in 1538, and the present one is a modern replacement.)

Other theories suggest the tradition comes from a huge downpour on 15 July 1315; or that it mimics other saintly legends from France, or adopts a pagan tradition of a day of weather augury. If nothing else, it fits into a long-standing British tradition of weather lore assumed to be true because it rhymes!

And is it true? Not precisely, of course - but apparently in 7/8 years out of 10, the weather pattern established in mid-July will persist for several weeks to come...

Other 'S' saints

St Sebastian was a Roman martyred in Gaul around 288, tied to a tree and shot with arrows, His memorial is 20 January and he is patron of archers, bookbinders and gardeners among many others.

St Simon the Apostle (or the Zealot) was crucified, or perhaps sawn in half, some time in the first century. His date is 28 October and he is patron of boats and fish.

• Other Saints in the series
• Andrew Chapman

Find out more about the saints:
• Catholic Forum
• Catholic Encyclopaedia