SAINT JOHN NEPOMUCENE
Priest and martyr. His feast is celebrated on May 16.
Saint John Nepomuk was born in Nepomuk, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), in 1345. Since childhood he was the object of divine predilections: holy parents, intelligence and kindness, priestly vocation, gifts of prophecy and miracles. He was a preacher and canon. The Empress of Bohemia, Joan of Holland, chose him as her confessor.
Saint John is the martyr of the secret of confession and patron of good fame. It is not easy to approach the sacrament of penance. That is why God gives a special grace to the priest to keep the secret of confession. The sacred veil of the sacramental seal has never been lifted. San Juan Climaco already affirmed this in the fourth century.
Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia, was more of a monster than a person. When they accused him of being another Nero, he said that if he had not been, he would be from now on. He was once presented with a poorly roasted bird. And without further explanation he ordered the poor cook to be roasted. History calls him drunk and lazy, but he was supposed to call him the Beast of the Apocalypse. He took pleasure in claiming, and he had reason to, that the executioner was his best comrade.
Two people lived in the Palace: his wife, the Empress, and Juan Nepomuceno, his confessor and spiritual director. Some envious whispered in the King’s ear an infamous gratuitous suspicion about the Empress’s infidelity. And Wenceslao was seized with a terrible jealousy that neither the sweet presence of his wife nor the sanctity of the confessor could dispel.
One day the King saw that the Queen was confessing to Fr. Juan, and that afterwards she was going to take communion. Then Wenceslao conceived the diabolical plan to ensure the fidelity of his wife. He sent for the confessor.- Father Juan, you know the terrible doubt that torments me, you can dispel it. The Empress confesses to you. One word would suffice…
– Majesty, answers the Confessor, how is it possible that you propose such infamy to me? You know I can’t reveal anything. The secret of confession is inviolable.
Juan knows that his life is about it. No one has ever contradicted the tyrant. Only Juan again dared to oppose his plans.
– Father Juan, your silence means that you give up your freedom.
– I will never consent to such sacrilege. Send anything else. In this I say the same as Saint Peter: “We must obey God before men”.
A few hours later Juan is thrown in jail. He is subjected to terrible torture to make him give in. The Queen is released and heals his wounds. He was still able to preach in the cathedral, announcing his death. He well he knows that the tyrant will never forgive him.
Shortly afterwards John had gone to prostrate himself at the feet of Our Lady of Bunzel. Wenceslao sets a trap for him to return. The executioners wait for the Martyr by the bridge and throw him into the Vltava River. The statue is still there for example and memory. It was April 19, 1393. People said that the river was dyed purple and heavenly, as an announcement of the glory of the Martyr.
His epitaph, in the Cathedral of Saint Vitus, in Prague, reads as follows: “Here lies John Nepomuk, confessor of the Queen, illustrious for his miracles, who, for having kept the sacramental seal, was cruelly martyred and thrown from the bridge of Prague to the Vltava River, by order of Wenceslaus IV, in the year 1393”. His tongue is preserved incorrupt.
In 1725 (more than 300 years after his death) a commission of priests, doctors and specialists examined the martyr’s tongue, which was incorrupt, although dry and grey. And suddenly, in the presence of everyone, it began to fluff up and appeared the color of fresh flesh, as if it were the tongue of a living person. Everyone got down on their knees and this miracle, witnessed by so many people and so important, was the fourth miracle to declare him holy. He was canonized by Benedict XIII in the year 1729.
Since his death, Saint John Nepomucene was always considered the patron saint of confessors, because he preferred to die rather than reveal the secrets of confession. He has also been considered the patron saint of good fame, because he preferred martyrdom, but did not allow the good reputation of a penitent to be shattered.
In Prague, on the bridge from which he was thrown into the river, an image of this great saint is preserved, and many people, passing by, devoutly pray to him.
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