St John Nepomucene

St John Nepomucene was a Czech priest and saint (c. 1340–1393) born in the small town of Nepomuk in Bohemia. He was the canon of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague, general vicar of the archdiocese, and the confessor of the wife of King Wenceslaus IV. He was thrown into the river from the Charles Bridge in Prague because he refused to disclose the Queen’s confession to the King.

The saint is depicted dressed in priest’s clothes, wearing a biretta, holding a cross in his right hand and a palm branch, the symbol of martyrdom, in his left hand. A halo of five stars adorns his head commemorating the stars that, according to the legend, hovered at the place where St John drowned.