Today is St Swithin’s day. St Swithin was a very minor saint, whom we almost certainly would have forgotten long ago had it not been for a short poem about English summer weather:

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 na mair*.

 *Na mair = no more

Swithin was in fact the Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. He was consecrated bishop on 30 October 852 and remained in post until his death on 2 July 863.

As bishop he was known for his piety and his desire to build new churches and restore old ones. At his request, King Æthelwulf gave a tenth of his royal lands to the Church. Swithin travelled on foot around his diocese, and when he gave a banquet he invited the poor rather than the rich.

So why the link to the weather? Apparently on his deathbed Swithin begged that he should be buried outside the north wall of his Cathedral where passers-by should pass over his grave and raindrops from the eaves drop upon it. But on 15 July 971 his body was transferred inside the Cathedral, from its almost forgotten grave by the north wall, and a great storm ensued. According to folklore, his spirit was so outraged that it rained for 40 days.

And why is he of interest to us here in Spain? Because of the rain. Swithin is regarded as one of the saints to whom one should pray in the event of drought!

Picture above: St Swithin of Winchester, part of the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold, illuminated manuscript in the British Library

Attribution: monk, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons