LEGEND OF SAINT JOHN OF NEPOMUK
Saint John of Nepomuk is one of the most famous Czech Saints. We find his statues not only all over
Bohemia, but almost through the whole Europe. Why did our ancestors respect him so much and why
was he canonized?
The legend says that as a little boy he got seriously ill and his parents pleaded for his healing with the
Holy Virgin of Zelená Hora. That really happened and his parents wanted to show their gratitude for
his miracoulous recovering, so John became an altar boy in the Cistercian monastery and later even a
priest.
According to the legend, Wenceslaus´s IV wife, queen Sophia, confessed to John of Nepomuk.
The king and the queen had some contradictions between them and Wenceslaus wanted to know
Sophia's confessional secret from John. But John refused to reveal the secret, so he was captured
and tortured. However, even being tortured, he divulged nothing. That is why John of Nepomuk
was thrown down from Charles Bridge to the Vltava river and there he drowned.
Another part of the legend is connected with the finding of his body. The fishermen catching
fish by the Vltava river were attracted by glow above the surface. When they approached to
it, they saw five gold stars above the water. Then, underneath them, they found the dead body
of John of Nepomuk. After that the body was buried at an unknown place in the Cistercian
monastery.
The finding of his tongue, which - according to the legend, had been preserved intact for
almost 400 years , contributed to John´s beatification in 1721. This event was considered to be
a miracle symbolizing his bravery when he even under torture had not talked and he had not
divulged the confessional secrets.
WHO PROBABLY REALLY WAS
JOHN OF NEPOMUK?
John of Nepomuk is a historically documented personality. He was born at the end of the first
half of the 14th century as Johánek or Jan of Pomuk. He was a descendant of German
colonists who had come to Nepomuk in western Bohemia during the 13th century because
at that time, the area of the Cistercian monastery in Pomuk was being settled.
Here, the gifted boy learnt to read and write and his next steps went to Charles University in Prague.
Although there is not direct evidence about his studies, we know that in the year 1381 he got the
bachelor´s degree of canon law and after studying he became a priest at the faculty of theology. He
worked as a notary at archbishop John of Jenštejn and he preached in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague
Castle. He continued to study canon law in Padua, where he even became a rector. After his return in
1389, he became the Vicar General and one of his tasks was to represent the archbishop of Prague.
It was just in that period of time when the conflicts between the king and archbishop John of
Jenštejn culminated. It was (he) John who criticized the king for his immoral way of life and
his bad reign. The king obviously did not like this, so he wanted to establish a new bishopric
over which he could have had influence. It should have been established in the town of
Kladruby and after the death of the old abbot called Racek the king wanted to instate a new
abbot who would support him. The abbot died while the king was out of Bohemia and the
arcibishop together with John of Nepomuk named a new one who was on their side. This fact
made the king very angry after he came back. He even threatened all of his opponents with
torture and death. Then, while still being angry, he commanded their arrest.
The archbishop succeeded in escaping, but John of Nepomuk was not so lucky and,
together with three other officials, was captured and transferred to the Old Town Hall for an
interrogation. After that, they were put into the torture chamber in Rychta. But only two of
them were tortured – John of Nepomuk and Mikuláš Puchník because just these two
admonished the king most for his immorality.The king was also present at the interrogation
and he is alleged to have taken part in torture even himself. It is obvious that he wanted to
know the archbishop’s plans and evidently some other things. But whatever he wanted to
know, John did not reveal anything and he apparently died in cruel torture.
John of Nepomuk was thrown from Charles Bridge, known as Prague Bridge or Stone Bridge
at that time. The latest studies show that he had already been dead before he was thrown, and
he really died because of torture. This event happened on 19th March 1393 at about nine
o’clock in the evening, but his corpse was found in the second half of April, thus the whole
month later. If he had been thrown into the water alive, he would have risen to the surface
sooner due to the of residual oxygen in the body. Today, the place where he was thrown into
the Vltava river is now marked by a golden cross on the stone railing of Charles Bridge. John’s
death is also reminded by his statue, which was placed there as one of the first during the
later decoration of the bridge.
John’s death had also a negative impact on King Wenceslaus. Torture and killing of a church
dignitary was one of the reasons why Wenceslaus lost the title of „Roman King“.
Three years later, John’s body was moved to Prague Castle and placed in St. Vitus Cathedral.
During the research of John’s relics , a piece of organic substance fell out of the skull. It was
considered to be the tongue of the dead man. However, the scientific research in the 70s of the
20th century confirmed that it was not the tongue, but the brain tissue, which disproved the
theory of his preserved tongue. But the legend was already spread for centuries, so the story of a
preserved tongue as a symbol of tacitness is well-known up to nowadays.
Even though people recognized John to be one of the patron saints of Bohemia already from
the sixteenth century, he was not canonized until in 1729. One of the impulses was the
miraculous preservation of his tongue more than three hundred years after his death. For today
John of Nepomuk is the patron saint not only of Bohemia and Bavaria, but also of bridges,
millers, fishermen, honour and confessional secrets. His statues can be seen at many places of
the Czech Republic and they should remind us not only of John of Nepomuk himself, but
also of his bravery and strength for fulfilling his promise - secrecy and not betraying
confidence.