SWITHUN, saint. — Biographers maintain a prudent reserve concerning his life. According to some, he became bishop of Winchester after 837; according to others, in 852, at the request of the people and clergy. He died on 2 July 862.
He was a great builder of churches, which he then loved to consecrate, going to the site barefoot. He often spent the night in prayer and deprived himself of meals. After his death, many miracles occurred through his intercession.
BIBL.: instead of the texts collected in Acta SS. Iulii, I, Paris 1867, pp. 285–99, one should consult those publ. by E. Sauvage in Anal. holland., 4 (1885), pp. 367–410; 5 (1886), pp. 53–58; 7 (1888), pp. 373–80, and by Fr. P. Grosjean, ibid., 58 (1940), pp. 187–96. Guglielmo Mollat