This saint is also called St. John Nepomucene. He was confessor to Queen Johanna of Bohemia. Her husband King Wenceslaus accused her of adultery and demanded that St. John Nepomuk reveal the name of her paramour. Because of the seal of confidentiality accorded to the sacrament of Penance, the confessor refused. So on May 16, 1383, the king had him drowned in the river Moldau.
In portraits St. John Nepomuk has a halo of five stars and a palm branch, as at left.
Feast day: May 16
At left, from a portrait in Rome
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