SWITHIN, SAINT, an English ecclesiastic of the 9th c., who was chaplain to king Egbert, and tutor to his son Ethelwulf, under whom, when he came to the throne, he held the office of chancellor. He had the charge of the education of king Alfred, whom lie accompanied to Rome. Iu 852 he was consecrated bishop of Winchester. Accord ing to William of Malmesbury, he was "a rich treasure of all virtues, and those in which he took most delight were humility and charity to the poor." He adds that he built several churches, and traveled through his diocese with his clergy on foot, and for the most part by night, in order to avoid the appearance of ostentation. The origin of the tribute called " Peter-pence" (q.v.) has been often assigned to Swithin, and he is said to have procured an act of the Wittenagemote, enforcing, for the first time, the universal obligation of paying tithes. Swithin died in on July 2, 862, and was buried, according to his own desire, in the churchyard of Winchester. A century later he was canonized; and the monks, not considering this a fitting place of sepulture for a saint, exhumed his body, for the purpose of depositing it in Winchester cathedral; but this translation, which was to have taken place on July 15, was delayed in consequence of violent rains, which continued without intermission for 40 days. Out of this circum
stance arose the still current belief, that if rain fall on July 15, it will continue to rain for 40 days. Experience certainly shows that when a period of wet weather sets in about the summer solstice, it generally proves of considerable duration; and we find a similar superstition popularly attached in different countries of Europe to the festivals of various saints, which occur about the same period of the year. In France, the watery saints' days are those of St. Medard (June 8), and St. Gervais and St. Protais (June 19), the meteorological canon being S'il pleut le jour de Saint Medard, Il pleut quarante jours plus tard; S'il_pleut le jour de St. Gervais et de St. Protais, Il pleut quarante jours apres.
The rainy saint in Flanders is St. Godelieve, and in Germany there are three saints' days to which this belief attaches, one being that of the Seven Sleepers.