St. Swithin (or Swithun) was born in Wessex, England. He was sent to a monastery in Winchester to be educated while still a small boy. He was ordained as a priest in the year 830. He became tutor to Ethelwulf, son of King Egbert of the West Saxons.
Ethelwulf became king in 837 and named his teacher bishop of Winchester in 852. St. Swithin remained his spiritual advisor throughout his reign. Many churches were built or repaired during this time. Ethelwulf also deeded a tenth of his landholdings to the holy see. He died in 857, two years after his pilgrimage to Rome.
St. Swithin was known for his humility. He walked on all his journeys and avoided all ostentation. He also performed many works of charity and was known for his wisdom. He died on July 2nd, 862.
According to his wishes, he was buried in a churchyard where worshipers could walk on his grave on their way to mass. Many miraculous cures were attributed to him, postmortem, as it were.
In 971, during the reign of King Edgar, the current bishop ordered Swithin's remains to be moved to a shrine within Winchester Cathedral. This translation apparently displeased the good saint for it rained that day and every day for the next forty. Thus the superstition that whatever the weather on St. Swithin's Day, July 15th, it will be the same for the next forty.
The Bog's connection with the Saint ties in with the history of Johnstown which has had three major floods in the last 100 years. Our original device featured the hand with three fingers pointing up - going down for the third time. The heralds turned this down. Some nonsense about it looking too much like the boyscout salute. So we tossed him a life preserver (the laurel wreath).