ST. SWITHIN'S DAY.

In Europe there are various saints who are supposed to have had some influence upon the weather; France has its St. Médard, and England has its St. Swithin. Our actual knowledge of this old English saint is very scanty, and the grounds upon which he has been associated with dry and wet weather are of dubious origin. We are told that St. Swithin was a monk in the Old Abbey of Winchester, and that because of his zeal he became prior and then bishop of that See. We are told, also, that he erected numerous churches, while his piety and learning were such that Egbert, King of Wessex, gave him his son and successor to educate. As was usual with good men in those days, many miraculous deeds were attributed to St. Swithin, and finally he died in the year 862 A.D. He was buried in the churchyard at Winchester, in a humble spot of his own selection.

More than a hundred years afterwards the clergy of the diocese of Winchester thought that the Saint deserved more honour than a grave under the dripping eaves of the Cathedral. Accordingly, they arranged to remove the body inside with great ceremony, and the date selected for this event was the 15th July. Thereafter this day was regarded as St. Swithin's Day because, if we are to believe popular legend, he objected to have his body removed from the humble place in the graveyard chosen by himself. In order to give outward and visible sign of his displeasure violent rains descended on that 15th of July, and the torrent continued for forty days, so that the ceremony of removing the Saint's body was delayed, while the clergy of the diocese were thus rebuked for their presumption. Hence there grew up the popular belief which finds expression in the old rhyme:

There is, of course, no truth in this old adage, although there are some people who still profess to believe in it. The men whose business it is to watch the weather day by day and write down all they observe, will tell you that it does not matter in the least, as far as the rain of the following forty days is concerned, whether it is wet or dry on the 15th July. It is even very doubtful whether the ceremony of removing the Saint's body was marked by any special downpour of rain; the fact is not mentioned by the chroniclers of that time. Like many other things connected with holidays and holy days this legend regarding St. Swithin has its origin, probably in the heathen times that preceded Christianity. That would account, at least, for the curious fact that there are several rainy Saints in Europe.