After weeks of sweltering temperatures across much of Europe, there is one British saint I never thought I'd find myself calling upon for a little help: St. Swithin.
Celebrated each year on July 15 (originally on July 2; see note below), St. Swithin (or St. Swithun) was the Bishop of Winchester in the 9th century. He was known for his humility, asking to be buried outside where "the sweet rain of heaven" and the footsteps of ordinary people could fall upon his grave.
More than a century after his death, those wishes seemed about to be ignored. Following his canonization, church leaders decided to move St. Swithin's remains into Winchester Cathedral. According to legend, the heavens objected.
As workers prepared to transfer his relics in 971, torrential rain began to fall, delaying the move for 40 days. Before long, a piece of English folklore was born: If it rains on St. Swithin's feast day, July 15, it will continue to rain for the next 40 days. If the sun shines instead, fair weather will follow. Meteorologists, it should be said, remain politely unconvinced!
Even so, the legend has endured for centuries, inspiring one of England's best-known weather sayings:
"St. Swithin's Day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain.
St. Swithin's Day, if thou be fair,
For forty days 'twill rain nae mair."
You have to admire the British for weaving a 9th-century bishop into the weather forecast.
One note: July 2 was the date of his death in 862 AD (and thus was celebrated; it is still the feast day in Norway and the Roman Martyrology). But, as is the case with many feasts, it was later moved to the day of the transfer of his relics.
40 days of rain?
Of course, nobody is suggesting we should plan our summer holidays around a medieval weather prediction. But it's rather delightful that one saint's feast day has become just as much a talking point for gardeners and picnickers as it is for pilgrims.
Now then, 40 days of rain? Ask me a month ago and I'd have said absolutely not. Ask me after trying to sleep in a Paris apartment without air conditioning, where it was around 95°F indoors at midnight, and, well … let's just say St. Swithin's weather legend suddenly sounds a lot more appealing!
