Johnof Nepomuk

John of Nepomuk, or Pomuk, a Romish saint and patron of Bohemia, was born at Pomuk in that country about 1330. Becoming a priest at Prague, where he was made canon and vicar-general, he took part with the archbishop, John of Janstein, who appointed an abbot in opposition to the wishes of King Wenceslaus; and the latter, who had already a quarrel with him because he had refused to reveal the confessions of Queen Sophia, seized the insubordinate churchman, put him to the rack, and finally threw him into the Moldau. After his death many legends attached themselves to his name (indeed, his existence is not beyond doubt), and in 1729 he was canonised.