Church of St Swithin, Bath Church of St Swithin, Bath The Anglican Church of St Swithin on The Paragon in the Walcot area of Bath, England, was built between 1777 and 1790. It is a Grade II* listed building. The church stands on the site of a previous place of worship dating back to the 10th century, the remains of which are beneath the crypt. The dedication is to Swithun, an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. Jane Austen's parents were married at St Swithin's on 26 April 1764 and her father George Austen is buried there. The current building
Patron saint acclaim rather than through official declaration. Traditionally, it has been understood that the patron saint of a particular place prays for that place's wellbeing and for the health and happiness of all who live therein. However, the Wahhabi and Salafi movements within Sunnism have latterly attacked the veneration of saints (as patron or otherwise), which they claim are a form of idolatry or "shirk". More mainstream Sunni clerics have critiqued this argument since Wahhabism first emerged in the 18th century. The critiques notwithstanding, widespread veneration of saints in the Sunni world declined in the 20th century under Wahhabi and Salafi