St. John of Nepomuk - Lhota Rapotina, Czech Republic
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vraatja
N 49° 27.971 E 016° 37.480
33U E 617716 N 5480549
Beautiful sandstone Baroque statue of the Patron Saint of Bohemia, St. John of Nepomuk from 1748 at the village square in Lhota Rapotina near Boskovice.
Waymark Code: WMQY9D
Location: Jihomoravský kraj, Czechia
Date Posted: 04/14/2016
Views: 20
In the centre of a small village square in Lhota Rapotina, a small village located a few kilometers southwestwardly from Boskovice, the beautiful Baroque statue of St John of Nepomuk can be found. The statue comes from 1748 according to Latin chronogram hidden in the prayer to the Patron engraved at the front part of its pedestal. St John of Nepomuk is depicted standing of the "heavens with the angels", wearing a priest suit and carrying a cross and an olive branch.
John of Nepomuk
He was born c1354 in the small town of Nepomuk in Bohemia (the Czech Republic) to a wealthy Christian family. He was sent to study Theology and Canon Law at the Universities of Prague and Padua. He was well connected with the wealthy nobility and in In 1393 he was made the vicar-general which brought him into close contact with royalty. The ruling monarch was the Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (aka Wenceslas) who was also the King of Bohemia (February 26, 1361 – August 16, 1419). Saint John Nepomuk became the confessor of the the fourth wife of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor. The name of the Empress was Elizabeth of Pomerania (1347–1393). Rather than reveal the confession of the Empress, at the command of the Emperor Charles IV, he allowed himself to be cast into the river Moldau from the bridge at Prague and died by drowning on March 20, 1393.
The figure of Saint John of Nepomuk is often encountered in Central and Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Poland and Lithuania. He is usually portrayed with a halo of five stars, commemorating the stars that hovered over the Vltava River on the night of his murder.
John of Nepomuk is seen by Catholics as a martyr to the cause of defending the Seal of the Confessional, by romantic nationalists as a Czech martyr to imperial interference, and by most historians as a victim of a late version of the inveterate investiture controversy between secular rulers and the Catholic hierarchy.
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