St John of Nepumuk
Preserved but no longer current.
Patron Saint of Bohemia, a priest who was drowned in 1393 by order of the brutal Wenceslaus IV, partly because he tried to restrain the licentiousness of the king, partly because he refused to reveal to him the confessions of the queen. Nepumuk, or Nepomuk is the French ne, born, and Pomuk, the village of his birth. His day is May 16th.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “St John of Nepumuk” mean?
Patron Saint of Bohemia, a priest who was drowned in 1393 by order of the brutal Wenceslaus IV, partly because he tried to restrain the licentiousness of the king, partly because he refused to reveal to him the confessions of the queen. Nepumuk, or Nepomuk is the French ne, born, and Pomuk, the village of his birth. His day is May 16th.
Is “St John of Nepumuk” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.