JOHN OF NEPOMUK, or POMUK, patron saint of Bohemia: b. Nepomuk, about 1330; d. 20 March 1393. He is considered as the protector of those falsely accused and of those in danger of drowning. He is said to have been made master of arts at Prague after being consecrated to the priesthood. There is very much difference between the accounts that have come down to us concerning the life of this saint and but little reliable historical facts. There are even claimed to be two personalities embodied in the legendary incidents at hand.
He was preacher in the Teynkirche at Prague, soon thereafter elevated to canon of Saint Veit's, then provost of All Saints'. Later he was appointed almoner of King Wenceslas IV and father confessor of Queen Johanna. For refusing to divulge the queen's confessions in spite of the king's threats and after all tortures had failed to extract the secrets of the con fessional, he was, on the eve of Ascension Day 1383, thrown into the river Moldau. History
also tells of a John of Nepomuk drowned by Wenceslas from which the legend borrows some features. One fact is assured, that he was killed 20 March 1393 for differences of opinion in Church politics. The fact that Benedict XIII, in 1729, canonized a man whose exist ence is not provable gave Schmude, in his