Saint
Swithin’s Day.
St Swithin is not an Irish saint but he is well known in Ireland because
of the folklore associated with his name. This Wednesday is the
15th July and in the Christian calendar it is also known as Saint
Swithin’s Day. According to an ancient tradition, if it rains on St Swithin's
Day, it will rain for the next 40 days.
Saint Swithin was the Bishop of Westminster in England in the ninth
century between 852 and 862. He was well known for building churches and
restoring old ones, anonymously repairing them at his own cost.
He was reported as being
something of a humble man who preferred to travel on foot rather that in a
grand carriage which befitted the style of Bishop’s and when he hosted banquets
he would invite poor peasants rather than the rich. Just before he died in 862, he asked to be buried outside the walls of Winchester
Cathedral, so the rain would fall on his grave and the people of Winchester
would walk above him. He wished to be buried as an ordinary man in the
graveyard and not a fine tomb. His wishes were granted.
However, nine years later on 15 July 971,
following the orders of King Edgar, Bishop Ethelwold and his monks moved Swithin’s
remains to a new shrine inside Winchester Cathedral. A great storm was said to
have developed during the moving of his body and it continued to rain for 40
days.
The countryside was flooded and the monks beseeched St. Swithin to
intercede for them. It's said that he appeared to one of his monks and revealed
to him how displeasing it was to God to spend their time in useless
expenditures of time and money which might easily be spent with more advantage
in the relief of the poor and needy; he also forbade the monks to ever
interfere with his remains again.
People said that the saint in heaven was weeping
because his bones had been moved away from the ordinary people. For going
against his dying wishes it was believed that his curse was forty continuous
days of rain. In AD
963, the work on the mausoleum was finally completed, but, by then, the legend
of St. Swithin as a rain-saint was firmly established. The
shrine was destroyed in 1538 by King Henry VIII' s men during the Dissolution
of the Monasteries.
The legend made its way to Ireland during the middle ages and is still
remembered today in the words of the following rhyme.
St Swithin’s Day, if it does rain
Full forty days, it will remain
St Swithin’s Day, if it be fair
For forty days, t'will rain no more."
While most of us would rather not see rain on July
15th, apple-growers hope for it on this day, as it is believed that the saint
is watering the crops. Some apple growers will tell you that if it fails to rain
on Saint Swithin’s Day, the apple-crop will be a poor one. They also suggest
that no apple should picked before July 15th and all apples growing at this
time will ripen.
So if you are praying for sunshine, then may your prayers be granted. However,
if you're in an area of drought, may you be blessed with a wet St. Swithin’s
Day!
Sadly for those who like the romance of such
folklore, there is no evidence to back up the prophecy. It has been put to the
test on 55 occasions by the Meteorological Office in the U.K., when it has been
wet on St Swithin's Day and 40 days of rain did not follow.
However, the legend remains popular and even
if no one takes it seriously, it usually gets an airing every on St Swithin’s
Day every year. So my advice to you
would be:
If on St Swithun’s day it really pours
You’d be better off to stay indoors.
