Saint John of Nepomuk

Life story

John was born around 1345 in Pomuk, now Nepomuk, in western Bohemia, hence his name John of Nepomuk. He studied at Prague and Padua, became a notary and then a secretary in the archbishop's office, and was ordained a priest around the 1380s. In the early 1390s he was appointed vicar general to Archbishop John of Jenštejn.

At the time King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia and the archbishop of Prague were locked in a long dispute. One of the quarrels concerned the appointment of the abbot of Kladruby: the king wanted his own candidate, while the archbishop and his vicar general had confirmed someone else. On 20 March 1393 the king had John and several other church officials arrested and tortured. John was thrown into the Vltava River from the Prague bridge and drowned.

His body was recovered and buried in St Vitus Cathedral in Prague. A later legend, absent from contemporary sources, says that he died because he refused to reveal what the queen had said in confession. The story spread widely and shaped how he was honoured.

Historians rely mostly on a small number of near-contemporary accounts for the details of his life. He was beatified in 1721 and canonised in 1729 under Pope Benedict XIII. From the seventeenth century his statue appeared on many bridges in Central Europe, most famously the one on the Charles Bridge in Prague, placed there in 1683. He is honoured as one of the patron saints of Bohemia.

Works and witness

• Studied at Prague and Padua; notary and secretary to the archbishop
• Vicar general of the archbishop of Prague from the early 1390s
• Arrested by King Wenceslaus IV and drowned in the Vltava on 20 March 1393
• Buried in St Vitus Cathedral, Prague
• Canonised in 1729

Patron of

Bohemia

Saints from the same country

Saint Wenceslaus, Saint John Neumann, Saint Adalbert of Prague, Saint Ludmila

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Acta Sanctorum, May (vol. 3)

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.