St. Swithun

Swithun
Statue of Saint Swithun in the Stavanger Cathedral
Bishop
Born	c. 800 possibly Hampshire
Died	2 July 862(862-07-02) Winchester, Hampshire
Venerated in	Orthodox Church; Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion
Major shrine	Winchester Cathedral. Parts survive in cathedral museum. Also modern replacement shrine.
Feast	2 July (Norway) 15 July (England)
Attributes	Bishop, holding a bridge, broken eggs at his feet
Patronage	Hampshire; Winchester; Southwark; the weather

Swithun (or Swithin, Old English: Swīþhūn, Latin: Swithunus; died c. 862 AD) was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. His historical importance as bishop is overshadowed by his reputation for posthumous miracle-working. According to tradition, the weather on his feast day (15 July) will continue for forty days. The precise meaning and origin of Swithun's name is unknown, but it most likely derives from the Old English word swiþ, 'strong'.

St Swithun was Bishop of Winchester from his consecration in October 853 until his death on 2 July sometime between 862 and 865. However, he is scarcely mentioned in any document of his own time. His death is entered in the Canterbury manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS F) under the year 861. His signature is appended to the witness lists of several Anglo-Saxon charters. Of these charters three belong to 833, 838, 860–862. In the first, Swithun signs as Swithunus presbyter regis Egberti, in the second as Swithunus diaconus, and in the third as Swithunus episcopus.

More than a hundred years later, when Dunstan and Æthelwold of Winchester were inaugurating their church reform, Swithun was adopted as patron of the restored church at Winchester, formerly dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. His body was transferred from its almost forgotten grave to Æthelwold's new basilica on 15 July 971, and according to contemporary writers, numerous miracles preceded and followed the move.

The revival of Swithun's fame gave rise to a mass of legendary literature. The so-called Vita S. Swithuni of Lantfred and Wulfstan, written about 1000, hardly contain any biographical fact; all that has in later years passed for authentic detail of Swithun's life is extracted from a biography ascribed to Goscelin of St Bertin's, a monk who came over to England with Hermann, bishop of Salisbury from 1058 to 1078. From this writer we learn that Saint Swithun was born in the reign of Egbert of Wessex, and was ordained priest by Helmstan, bishop of Winchester (838-c. 852). His fame reached the king's ears, and he appointed him tutor of his son, Æthelwulf (alias Adulphus), and considered him one of his chief friends.