Nepomuk and its churches. Brazilians also come here to see the saint – News

Our guide is the sculptor Václav Česák, the chairman of Matica svatého Jan Nepomucký, an association that has been trying to preserve and spread respect for this saint since 2007. At the very beginning, he tells us something about the origin of the city’s name. “It was originally called Pomuk, it could have been from the word pomuk. According to legend, in the 10th century, St. Vojtěch ascended the local hill and began to pray during a time of great drought. Within a week, it started to rain heavily, the mountain turned green, hence the name Zelená hora,” he explains.

“In 1144, the Cistercians founded a monastery under Zelena Hora, among other things, they observed the order of silence,” continues Václav Česák.

The name could thus come from the humming, sounds that the monks used to communicate while working. From the middle of the 13th century, the name Nepomuk also began to appear, which eventually prevailed. The most famous native of this town is obvious, Jan of Pomuk or also Jan of Nepomuck.

Our first stop is the pilgrimage church of St. John of Nepomuk. It stands in the places where the birthplace of this saint was supposed to be. He was supposed to be born here sometime between 1340 and 1345. “The house was supposed to have been built here in the 16th century, but according to legend, no one wanted to live in it. In one room, a black cross constantly appeared on the wall, even when the walls were repainted,” says Václav Česák.

Be that as it may, the house was demolished and in its place in the 17th century the church of St. John the Baptist was built. But when John of Nepomuck was canonized and more and more pilgrims were heading to his birthplace, the building was soon too small for them. According to the designs of the famous architect Kilián Ignác Dientzenhofer, a new tabernacle was built in the 18th century, already bearing the name of Jan Nepomuck.

The famous native is commemorated by an outdoor memorial plaque that has been hanging on the church wall since 2012 and was created by Václav Česák. Visitors learn that a saint was born here not only in Czech, Latin or German, but also in Hungarian or Japanese.

After a short walk, we move to the church of St. Jakub Vetší on Přesanické náměstí. It was founded in the 12th century by the aforementioned Cistercian monks, since then it has undergone a number of structural changes. John of Nepomuck was probably baptized here. “At that time, the church had more or less the form it still has today,” we find out. Jan also received his basic education in the school established at this church. When he later studied at the University of Prague, he was one of the outstanding students.

He also got to Padua, Italy, where he studied ecclesiastical law between 1383 and 1387. “He even served as rector of the Alpine students. He was among the best lawyers of his time,” says Česák. He worked his way up to the position of vicar general, an important position of the representative of the Prague archbishop. However, this proved fatal for him.

“Disputes arose between King Wenceslas IV. and Prague Archbishop Jan of Jenštejn. The king wanted to increase his power, among other things, by appointing his man to the monastery in Kladruby. Jan, however, confirmed Abbot Olen, who was proposed by the monastery,” explains the guide.

The dispute over Kladruby finally culminated in the arrest of four men from the archbishop’s entourage, including Jan from Pomuk. They were tortured in the old town prison, and while the others were eventually released, Jan did not survive the torture on March 20, 1393.

During the conversation, we moved to the St. John’s Museum in the building of the archdeaconry, again designed by the famous Dientzenhofer, by the way. In the museum, we view a replica of the skull of Jan of Pomuk and pictures of other skeletal finds.

“After the torture, his sides were burned, his fingers and toes were crushed, and his shoulder was dislocated. On the left side of the skull, you can see traces of a wound to the face,” the sculptor points out, adding that King Václav IV himself took part in the torture. “The wounds to Jan caused bleeding in the brain, from which he died. When his body was then thrown from the Charles Bridge into the Vltava, he was already dead,” adds Václav Česák.

Since then, a number of stories have sprung up around Jan Nepomucký. He was supposed to be the confessor of the wife of Wenceslas IV. Zofia of Bavaria and martyred also because he refused to break the confessional secret. Hence the myth about his language, which was supposed to be found intact in his grave in the St. Vitus Cathedral in the 18th century.

“In fact, it was brain tissue, which was discovered by doctor and anthropologist Emanuel Vlček during the exhumation in 1972. The fact that the brain tissue fell into the oral cavity and remained there intact can also be considered a miracle,” says the chairman Matice. When the body of John of Nepomuk was found in the Vltava River in April 1393, five lights were supposed to surround his dead body. Hence the symbol of five stars with which this personality is usually depicted.

“In 1729, Jan Nepomuck was declared a saint. He was a person who stood up to power, did not allow himself to be manipulated and stood for truth and justice,” he continues.

“He was worshiped not only by ordinary people, but also by members of the Habsburg monarchy. Thanks to their rulers, his cult reached South America, and missionaries spread his name all over the world,” we learn. “Jan Nepomucký is the most famous Czech born in the whole world. Entire cities are also named after him, in Colombia it is San Juan Nepomuceno, in Brazil it is Sao Joao Nepomuceno,” explains the sculptor.

“Precisely Brazilians from the mentioned city used to regularly visit us four times a year before covid. They are supposed to come again this year,” he adds. “New churches dedicated to John of Nepomuck are constantly being built, recently two were built in South India,” he says.

There are around 66,000 depictions of this saint in the world, although many of them do not correspond to reality. “John was canonized in the Baroque era, so he is most often depicted in the Baroque style. However, he lived in the Gothic era,” explains our guide, pointing to the actual form of the saint in the museum. It was created in 2018 and 2019 thanks to Brno anthropologists. “Priests then were not allowed to wear beards and had a tonsure, a shaved part on the top of the head. This is how Jan also looked,” we find out.

In the museum, we then look at a whole series of representations of the saint, either by artists or by ordinary people – in bronze, wax and fired clay. “We want to set up a section in the museum dedicated to the Habsburgs, who played a significant role in the canonization of John of Nepomuk. On this year’s martyrdom anniversary, we acquired the remains of Blessed Charles I of Austria, the last Habsburg emperor, the reliquary with the remains should be part of the exhibition,” the sculptor adds.

At the end, he invites us to go and see a local unique. It is a statue of Jan Nepomuck, which dates from the beginning of the 20th century. Since 2021, when the 300th anniversary of the saint’s beatification took place, it has been located in an unusual place in Nepomuk – in the middle of a roundabout.