Once the bishop of an important cathedral town, this rather obscure saint, whose remains are now, inevitably, scattered all over creation, asked to be buried in an unpretentious manner. According to legend, when his wishes were violated, he visited upon his former See some problematic meteorological conditions, resulting in examples of predictive doggerel. He is now, of course, regarded as a saint one should pray to in the absence of something. Who was he?

TabbyTom

I think this must be St Swithin (or Swithun), the ninth-century bishop of Winchester. When he died in 862, he was buried (as he had allegedly wished to be) in a simple grave in the cathedral graveyard. Subsequently, on July 15, 971, the monks of the cathedral chapter moved his remains to a magnificent tomb in the cathedral. According to legend, it rained for forty days thereafter as a sign of the saint's disapproval. Hence the old rhyme "If on St Swithin's it do rain, For forty days it shall remain." Swithin can be prayed to in time of drought to bring rain. Jan 05 07, 6:39 PM

lanfranco

And I'll award you a silver bishop's staff for that one, TT. Swithun's name has always given me the giggles, but yesterday, when it was pouring rain around here, and my expensive umbrella had just been destroyed, a friend commented, "St. Swithun must really have it in for us." Oh, yes, I know: that sort of humor is probably lost on anyone outside of certain weirdly-limited groups. Jan 05 07, 6:53 PM