JOHN NEPOMUCENE, Saint. — Son of a certain Wolffin, born in Pomuk (de Pomuk) in Bohemia between 1340 and 1350 and died in Prague on 19 (or 20?) March 1393. Having become a priest in 1380, he devoted himself to the study of canon law first in Prague, then in Padua, where in 1387 he was promoted “doctor decretorum.” But long before this he had already begun his ecclesiastical career, becoming a notary (1370) and then head (1377) of the archiepiscopal chancery of Prague. By papal provision he was entrusted in 1380 with the parish of St Gall in Prague with the spiritual care of the Germans residing in the city. Having become vicar general of the archbishop John of Jenštejn in 1389, the following year he exchanged the parish of St Gall for the archdeaconry of Saaz (Canonicus Pragensis ad extra), which he held until his death.
When the struggle broke out in 1393 between Archbishop Jenštejn and King Wenceslaus IV, who, in order to limit the archiepiscopal powers, wished to elevate the abbey of Kladruby (=Kladrau) to a diocese and place his favourite Venceslaus Králik there as abbot, the king’s wrath fell upon the vicar general J. N., because, relying on his canonical learning, he had vigorously defended the freedom of the Church and of his archbishop, securing confirmation of the newly elected abbot of Kladrau, Odilo. Arrested in Jenštejn’s presence together with two other ecclesiastics, J. N., unlike them who were released unharmed, after mysterious interrogations and torture, was thrown at night from the Charles Bridge in Prague into the Moldau and there drowned (19 or 20 March 1393).
According to this version, based on documents and chronicles of the time (principally the indictment against Wenceslaus IV presented to Boniface IX by Archbishop Jenštejn on 23 April 1393, but discovered only in 1752 after the canonization of J. N., edited by F. M. Pelzel, Geschichte des Königs Wenceslaus I, Urkundenbuch, Prague 1788, pp. 143-63), J. N. is to be considered a martyr of ecclesiastical freedom. Instead, he is known as a martyr of fidelity to the sacramental seal, having allegedly been killed for refusing to reveal to the king the queen’s confession. This opinion, whose origin is obscure (since J. N. had not been appointed confessor to the queen), is first attested by Thomas Ebendorffer in the Chronica regum Romanorum (completed in 1459) and by Paul Zídek in the Správovna (completed in 1477), and spread in the cult of J. N. during the Counter-Reformation. An epigraphic error made during the restoration of J. N.’s tomb (1534) led the chronicler Václav Hájek z Libočan (Kronika česká, Prague 1541) to distinguish two J. N.s: one a martyr of confession drowned on 16 May 1383 and the vicar general likewise drowned in 1393. Only the former would be a martyr and saint. This hypothesis, which had supporters until recent times (cf. La critica moderna e il martirio di s. G. N., in Civ. Catt., 12th series, 2 (1883, II), pp. 306-19 and 672-87), is today generally considered unfounded, and only the J. N. killed in 1393 is admitted (cf. Martyrologium Romanum, p. 192). In 1721 the Church recognized the cult of J. N. as immemorial, and on 19 March 1729 Benedict XIII declared him a saint, confirming the tradition of his martyrdom for the sacramental seal. The bull of canonization, which contained various historical errors later revealed by the discovery of documents (especially the aforementioned indictment of Jenštejn which seemed to overturn all current traditions about J. N.), gave rise to a long and bitter controversy still not entirely resolved. However, the conclusion that the non-existent J. N. who died in 1383 is the only one canonized, and that the other, real one of 1393, was not declared a saint, is false, since the Church intended to decree the honours of the altar to the victim of Wenceslaus known to history. During a recognition of his body in 1719, besides the skeleton, the saint’s dried but incorrupt tongue was found. In 1693 a statue was erected in his honour on the bridge from which he had been thrown (in the northern countries the statue of the saint is often found on bridges; in Rome it is seen on the Milvian Bridge). He is generally invoked against dangers at sea and also as the protector of the good reputation of the innocent accused. Feast day: 16 May.