Uniquely amongst Catholic saints, the statue of the Bohemian St John of Nepomuk has 5 stars on its halo. Catholic tradition usually portrays the Virgin Mary with stars (and all others with a simple halo), so what’s the story here?

The famous statue of St John of Nepomuk is on the north side of Prague’s Charles Bridge, close to the spot where he drowned in the river Vltava.

The statue of St Christopher on the Charles Bridge is also loaded with meaning.

John lived during the times of King Wenceslas IV in the 14th century. (Don’t confuse this king with ‘Good King Wenceslas’ from the Christmas Carol. That was his ancestor from the 9th century).

Wenceslas suspected that his wife – Queen Sophia, the cousin of his first wife – was having an affair. Eager to find out the truth, and knowing that she was a pious person, the King figured that if anyone would know, it would be her confessor. This was John, the Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Prague¹. When confronted by the jealous King, he refused to break his vows to reveal what the Queen had said to him. Enraged by this, the King had John tortured but he still didn’t talk. The King’s men bundled John’s body into a sack and, on 20 March 1393^{2 3 4} threw it into the river. This spot is marked close to his statue on the bridge.

This was not long after they built the Charles Bridge.

The Catholic church regards him as one of the first saints who defended the seal of the Confessional.

Whatever the true story, this still doesn’t explain the 5 stars on the halo.

Legend has it that when locals found John’s body it was through the reflection of 5 stars glittering in the water⁵. In those days you’d have been able to see many stars reflected in the surface of the water, so this sounds like superstition. The 5 stars in the halo also represent the letters from the Latin word ‘TACUI’ (“[I remained] silent”)

I suppose it’s good that Latin is a concise language; had John lived in Wales, the halo would have been much more complicated!

Reality

This legend is not all it seems to be.

John had studied law and worked as a notary public before becoming a priest⁶. King Wenceslas and the bishop had an argument of sorts related to the conversion of the abbey in the castle to a cathedral^{7 8}. The king arrested several of the bishop’s staff, including John. The soldiers tortured and killed them all, but John was the one who lasted the longest⁹. The king’s soldiers drowned John in the river¹⁰.

The legend spread in various ways¹¹:

• The archbishop left for Rome to escape arrest and he called John a martyr without qualifying that statement.
• The news spread, and within a few years biographies of John listed miracles attributed to him.
• In 1471, the dean of Prague included the point about John being the Queen’s confessor¹².
• In 1683, the first stature of John appeared on the Charles bridge, increasing his importance.
• On 25 June 1721, the Church canonised him, then beatified him 8 years later.
• And the church ended up canonising someone for the wrong fact.

Later the legend I wrote about above started to spread.

References

1. www.newadvent.org. (n.d.). CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. John Nepomucene. [online] Available at: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08467a.htm[↩]
2. www.newadvent.org. (n.d.). CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. John Nepomucene. [online] Available at: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08467a.htm[↩]
3. Ccel.org. (2025). John of Nepomuk. [online] Available at: https://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc06/htm/iii.lvii.lxxvii.htm [Accessed 2 Jul. 2025][↩]
4. Stracke, R. (2018). St. John Nepomuk: Art, Iconography, Legend. [online] Christianiconography.info. Available at: https://www.christianiconography.info/johnNepomuk.html [Accessed 2 Jul. 2025][↩]
5. Stracke, R. (2018). St. John Nepomuk: Art, Iconography, Legend. [online] Christianiconography.info. Available at: https://www.christianiconography.info/johnNepomuk.html [Accessed 2 Jul. 2025][↩]
6. www.newadvent.org. (n.d.). CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. John Nepomucene. [online] Available at: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08467a.htm[↩]
7. www.newadvent.org. (n.d.). CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. John Nepomucene. [online] Available at: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08467a.htm[↩]
8. Stracke, R. (2018). St. John Nepomuk: Art, Iconography, Legend. [online] Christianiconography.info. Available at: https://www.christianiconography.info/johnNepomuk.html [Accessed 2 Jul. 2025][↩]
9. www.newadvent.org. (n.d.). CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. John Nepomucene. [online] Available at: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08467a.htm[↩]
10. www.newadvent.org. (n.d.). CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. John Nepomucene. [online] Available at: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08467a.htm[↩]
11. Ccel.org. (2025). John of Nepomuk. [online] Available at: https://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc06/htm/iii.lvii.lxxvii.htm [Accessed 2 Jul. 2025][↩]
12. Stracke, R. (2018). St. John Nepomuk: Art, Iconography, Legend. [online] Christianiconography.info. Available at: https://www.christianiconography.info/johnNepomuk.html [Accessed 2 Jul. 2025][↩]

Remember: links were correct at time of publication.