John of Nepomuk is a Czech saint and martyr, buried in a silver tomb in St Vitus Cathedral in Prague. According to the traditional story he died during the reign of Wenceslaus IV after being thrown from Charles Bridge into the Vltava.
John of Nepomuk is a Czech saint and martyr whose body rests in St Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle. His feast is celebrated in the cathedral every year on 16 May, and according to the cathedral, veneration of him extends to various continents [1].
The story of his death
According to a Czech Radio programme from 2016, the story belongs to the reign of Wenceslaus IV, when a papal schism was running through Europe, the city was struck by a plague epidemic and church prelates were falling into disputes with the ruler. The long-transmitted version says that John of Nepomuk refused to reveal to the jealous king what the queen had confided to him in confession. Wenceslaus IV had him arrested and tortured, was personally present at the torture, and then had the beaten priest thrown into the Vltava [2].
What in the narrative corresponds to reality and what is later myth is discussed by the historian Jiří Rak in the series Jak to bylo doopravdy [2].
Attributes and places linked with the cult
His cult includes five stars, which are his attribute, a church bearing his name in Hradčany, and Brokoff's statue on Charles Bridge [2]. The spot from which the saint was thrown into the river is marked on the bridge parapet by a small cross and a Baroque grille with a bronze figure of the body in the river [1].
The silver tomb in the cathedral
The grave is located in the choir ambulatory of the cathedral. It consists of a silver sarcophagus on which a statue of the saint kneels, accompanied by figures of angels, and above it hangs a canopy with a multitude of eternal lights. The saint's body, in canon's choir dress, lies in a crystal coffin placed inside the sarcophagus. The marble balustrade is decorated with silver vases and candlesticks, and the pedestal bears bronze reliefs, among them a scene of the body being thrown from Charles Bridge [1].
The impulse for the construction came from Emperor Charles VI and Empress Elisabeth Christine, the parents of Maria Theresa. In 1721 the empress was present in Prague at the beatification celebrations, and the emperor interceded with the pope to speed up the canonisation. After being crowned King of Bohemia in 1723, the two repeatedly visited the grave and prayed for a male heir. A collection for the mausoleum raised 115,000 gulden [1].
In 1736 the work was taken over by the Viennese goldsmith Josef Würth. The sarcophagus of pure silver, with drapery, statues of the saint and angels and two tabernacles, was made after a design by the sculptor Antonio Corradini of Venice and the architect Josef Emanuel Fischer von Erlach of Vienna [1].
Veneration today
The cathedral states that the tomb survived several hard periods of Czech history and that, in its view, it was protected by the authority of the saint for whom it was made. During the feast in May, devotees of the saint from the Philippines visited the Pontifical Nepomucenum College in Rome [1].