Saint John of Nepomuk. John of Nepomuk was the saint of Bohemia who was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia.
Later accounts state that he was the confessor of the queen of Bohemia and refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional. On the basis of this account, John of Nepomuk is considered the first martyr of the Seal of the Confessional, a patron against calumnies and, because of the manner of his death, a protector from floods and drowning.
Jan of Pomuku came from the small market town of Pomuk in Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic, which belonged to the nearby Cistercian abbey. Born in the 1340s, his father was a certain Velflín and his mother is unknown.
His father's name is probably a derivative of the German name Wolfgang. Jan first studied at the University of Prague, then furthered his studies in canon law at the University of Padua from 1383 to 1387.
In 1393 he was made the vicar-general of Saint Giles Cathedral by Jan of Jenstejn, who was the Archbishop of Prague from 1378 to 1396. In the same year, on 20 March, he was tortured and thrown into the river Vltava from Charles Bridge in Prague by order of King Wenceslaus IV. At issue was the appointment of a new abbot for the rich and powerful Benedictine Abbey of Kladruby; its abbot was a territorial magnate whose resources would be crucial to Wenceslaus in his struggles with nobles. Wenceslaus at the sam
Later accounts state that he was the confessor of the queen of Bohemia and refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional. On the basis of this account, John of Nepomuk is considered the first martyr of the Seal of the Confessional, a patron against calumnies and, because of the manner of his death, a protector from floods and drowning.
Jan of Pomuku came from the small market town of Pomuk in Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic, which belonged to the nearby Cistercian abbey. Born in the 1340s, his father was a certain Velflín and his mother is unknown.
His father's name is probably a derivative of the German name Wolfgang. Jan first studied at the University of Prague, then furthered his studies in canon law at the University of Padua from 1383 to 1387.
In 1393 he was made the vicar-general of Saint Giles Cathedral by Jan of Jenstejn, who was the Archbishop of Prague from 1378 to 1396. In the same year, on 20 March, he was tortured and thrown into the river Vltava from Charles Bridge in Prague by order of King Wenceslaus IV. At issue was the appointment of a new abbot for the rich and powerful Benedictine Abbey of Kladruby; its abbot was a territorial magnate whose resources would be crucial to Wenceslaus in his struggles with nobles. Wenceslaus at the sam
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