St Swithin's Day 15th July

St Swithin (or ‘Swithun’, depending on your Anglo-Saxon preference) was the bishop of Winchester from 30thOctober 852 until his death on 2ndJuly 863. Despite having his own day in UK calendars, relatively little is known about the bishop’s acts and lifetime. A passage in ‘The Lives of the Saints’ records him as being ‘placed at an early age in the monastery of Winchester, where he was distinguished by his humility, and his application to study.’ And that he ‘was ordained priest by Bishop Helmestan in the year 830.’ However, it was his death and burial, rather than his life, that instigated miracles, saintly acts and an overlooked national celebration.



In 971, more than a hundred years after Swithin’s death, Dunstan and Æthelwold of Winchester chose him to be the patron of the restored church at Winchester. Before this, the bishops grave was largely forgotten, and was only rediscovered in the 10thcentury. This elevated the dead bishop’s status and required the removal of his body from his grave to its new resting place within Æthelwold’s new basilica. It is here, during the re-interment of the body, that several miracles were said to have taken place.



https://burialsandbeyond.com/2019/07/15/st-swithins-day/

Sounds like a good man. Pity he is not so well heard of.

I must read more about him.

(I guess we can expect forty days of sunshine then. I'll be keeping track, don't you know, What?)