St. John of Nepomuk (1340-1393) is Bohemia's patron saint. He was canonised by Pope Benedict XIII on March 19, 1729. Nepomuk, who worked for the Archdiocese of Prague, held a doctorate in canon law. Nepomuk served the Pope of Avignon and was executed on the king's orders. According to legend, John of Nepomuk was the queen's confessor, and the king ordered him to reveal what his wife had said in confession because he believed she was adulterous. John Nepomuk refused to divulge the confession's secret and was punished by being thrown from Prague's arched Charles Bridge into the Vltava River at the king's order. There are, of course, different versions of his martyrdom. According to more modern versions, Nepomuk was slain because he defended the archbishop's authority over King Wenceslas IV in ecclesiastical matters. In 1693, a monument was erected on the bridge from which the saint was thrown, and St. John of Nepomuk is now the patron saint of bridges, flood protector, and intercessor for those wrongly accused.
In the first half of the 18th century, the cult of St Nepomuk began to spread in the Two Nations Republic. He soon became one of the most popular Lithuanian saints, sometimes even identified with St John the Baptist. St. John Nepomuk is the patron saint of Anykščiai, and his cult is also strong in Molėtai, Trakai, etc.
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