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Brian Roberts Provincial Chaplain and Priest at St Swithin’s Lincoln, writes:
Dear Brethren, this message is a little different because of the weather recently!
St Swithin (or Swithun depending upon where you are – apparently they are interchangeable) was an Anglo Saxon Bishop of Winchester from 852 until his death in 863. Little was recorded about him at the time, although after his death news became more regular because of the miracles that were attributed to him. The best known recorded miracle is that of restoring to wholeness a basket of eggs which had been broken after a child had dropped them.
Most of the churches named after Saint Swithin are in the South where he lived and was best known, for example there is a St Swithun’s (note the spelling) girls’ school and a St Swithun’s quadrangle at Magdalen College Oxford. The Traditional Anglican Church in Lincoln meets at St Swithin’s on Broadgate which is one of five named after the Saint in Lincolnshire. The Lincoln church had its foundation stone laid in 1879. Sadly, the building has been neglected in recent years but is now active on a Sunday morning with a traditional mass.
What is it that causes me to mention St Swithin? To be honest it is the weather which, I don’t need to remind you, has been raining cats and dogs for weeks. St Swithin is associated with rainy weather and as you are probably aware folk lore states that if it rains on St Swithin’s day (15th July) then it will rain for 40 days. It seems that he has come to us early this year! Perhaps we will be spared in July!
“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 mare”
Obviously Lent this year has been very wet and it has felt especially drab, although as I write this piece on St David’s day, miraculously, the sun appeared if only briefly.
However, that is a good sign for things to come which in a way is what Lent is about – a sad period followed by better news and a happy outcome at Easter time. As a child Easter involved church going on Good Friday after a march with the band of the Boys’ Brigade, after which children received an orange. Before the regular deliveries of fresh fruit and vegetables in frozen containers, the receipt of an orange would have been a special treat, and indeed it was to all of us concerned.
Of course children being children, the Easter Sunday treat of a chocolate Easter egg to be opened was eagerly awaited. In ancient times eggs were forbidden during Lent so tucking into an egg on Easter Sunday was a real treat. So the basket of eggs that St Swithin restored to wholeness was a symbol not only of his power to create a miracle but also shows the importance of eggs after Lent at Easter time.
I wish you and your families a very happy Easter, whether or not you celebrate its religious significance. The sacrifice that was made by Jesus was such that the world might be saved from itself and to help us reflect upon the inestimable gift of love which He gave to the world. This is especially important now in a fractious world where it is so troubled and divisive-let us remember Him who gives us all hope that helps to keep us positive and sustains us into the future. My blessings to you and your loved ones.
