Saint John Nepomucene (1393)

This is the great and wonderful Catholic priest born at Nepomuk, in Bohemia, who became court chaplain at Prague and confessor to the wife of King Wenceslaus IV. Because he would not reveal to the king what the queen had told him in confession, Saint John Nepomucene was thrown into the River Moldau in Prague, and drowned. He was only fifty-three years old at the time. Lights shone on the place where the saintly priest was drowned when he had been thrown from a bridge. The morning after his martyrdom, his body was found and buried in the Cathedral of Prague. The king who martyred him was later seized and dethroned by the people. In 1719, the tongue of Saint John Nepomucene was found incorrupt. This was a tribute to his fidelity in never revealing to anyone the secrets of the confessional, a fidelity which every Catholic priest is obliged courageously to observe. In 1729 Saint John Nepomucene was canonized.

Martyrdom of St. John Nepomuk by Szymon Czechowicz, National Museum in Warsaw (details)

Martyrdom of St. John Nepomuk by Szymon Czechowicz, National Museum in Warsaw (details)