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The Development of the Cult of St. John of Nepomuk to Canonization
Herold, Miroslav ; Petráček, Tomáš (advisor) ; Mikulec, Jiří (referee) ; Royt, Jan (referee)
The cult of St. John of Nepomuk was one of the characteristic features of life in the Habsburg Empire and other European catholic countries in the early modern period. The origins of veneration for the medieval martyr were tied to Prague, to his tomb in the cathedral, to the Metropolitan Chapter. The saint became famous above all for the conviction that he gave his life for the preservation of the confessional secret. With his death he preserved the good name of the Czech Queen Joan, who confessed to him; on the other hand, he is said to have punished those who were disrespectful of his own posthumous reputation and grave. He therefore became an immensely popular defender of honour and reputation, values highly valued in the early modern society. Under the influence of the Prague Chapter, St. John's veneration was taken up by the Habsburgs, the Catholic rulers who ascended the throne of John's torturer, Wenceslaus IV, and John's spiritual daughter, Joan. They venerated the saint as one of the patron saints of the Bohemian kingdom, which they ruled. The recatholicization of this kingdom and its associated countries enabled the growth of St John's veneration, which by the end of the 17th century had already begun to spread vigorously beyond their borders. At the beginning of the 18th century, this...
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