Saint John of Nepomuk

Saint John of Nepomuk, also known as Jan Nepomucký (Czech) or Johannes Nepomuk (German), was a Bohemian clergyman born around 1345 and died on March 20, 1393. His loyalty to Archbishop Jan of Jenštejn in a dispute with the Bohemian crown led to his execution by King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, who ordered him thrown into the Vltava River. Despite the lack of specific details about his life and death from the source text, it is widely believed that he was executed for refusing to reveal confessional secrets, thus becoming a martyr of the Seal of the Confessional. In the decades following his death, a cult grew around John's life and death based on fabulous hagiographies and alleged miraculous healings. He was canonized in 1729 by Pope Benedict XIII, and he is venerated as an intercessor against calumnies and a protector from floods and drowning.