Discover the Hidden Tales of Confessional Secrets: The Heroic Protectors John of Nepomuk and John Sarkander

The more famous of the two Johns, John of Nepomuk, lived in the 14th century when King Wenceslas IV ruled. Unlike the popular story, he was more of a casualty of the bitter feud between the king and the Archbishop Jan of Jenštejn, who was his boss; Jan followed the king’s orders closely, which made Wenceslas very angry.

Roman Catholic priest and patron saint of the seal of confessionJan Sarkander served as a parish priest in Moravia during the 17th century, amidst the chaotic times of the Czech Estates Uprising and the resulting conflict.

In 1619, he worked hard to protect the town of Holešov from being robbed by Polish troops, but in doing so he fell into disfavor with local Protestant leaders. After a short time at Tovačov Castle, he was captured and imprisoned in Olomouc. It was here that Sarkander tragically died 401 years ago, on 17 March 1620, due to the torture he endured, during which he disclosed nothing at all.

A loyal official and confessor to Queen Sophie

Let’s begin from the start. John of Nepomuk started his role as a priest in the Havel district, which was infamous for its vices, including many moneylenders and promiscuous individuals. However, he managed to gain their respect, and his career in the church progressed quickly. Alongside his church responsibilities, he also pursued further education; in 1387, he earned a doctorate in canon law in Padua, Italy, and was also recognized by the University of Prague in the same year. He soon became a deputy in the metropolitan chapter, and in 1389 he rose to the position of Vicar General, making him second only to the Archbishop.

In this position, he made sure that priests led disciplined lives, adhered strictly to celibacy, did not preach heretical ideas, and avoided using apocryphal texts instead of the four recognized New Testament gospels. John held this role in the 1380s during a challenging time marked by conflict between the archbishop and the king, as the Catholic Church was grappling with the Great Schism and Wenceslaus IV attempted to take advantage of its weakness to bolster his own authority. A hard-working official, steadfastly defending the Church’s rights, inevitably found himself at odds with the king.

K An outright conflict erupted in 1393. Wenceslas IV aimed to establish a new bishopric in Bohemia, led by a prelate loyal to him. To fund this bishopric, he planned to use the wealthy Benedictine monastery in Kladruby, whose abbot, Racek, was already quite old. When Racek passed away, Wenceslas IV was away from Prague. The Benedictines seized the opportunity to quickly elect a new abbot, and within just three days (which is remarkably swift even by today’s standards), Vicar General Jan of Pomuk confirmed the new appointment by virtue of his position. By the time the king returned from Žebrák to Prague, it was already too late to reverse the decision. However, the king held a meeting with representatives of the archdiocese, during which he had all participants arrested—only the archbishop managed to escape. The rest were interrogated; Jan and one of his officials endured torture.

Even during the interrogation, it was reported that blood was flowing from wounds made by the hilt of the king’s sword. However, those arrested were not under the king’s jurisdiction; as clergymen, they fell under ecclesiastical law. The king, who was heavily drinking wine and actively took part in torturing the clergy, had everyone set free except for Jan. Initially, the prisoner was ‘stacked’, meaning his hands were tied behind him and then hoisted up a ladder, which caused both his hands to dislocate. Then, the executioner placed thumb screws on Johánek of Pomuk. Ultimately, all of them had their sides branded, a procedure in which the king himself reportedly participated, seemingly wishing to force a confession about some supposed conspiracy against his authority. When he received no confession and became somewhat sober, he commanded the executioner to remove the prisoner from the torture devices. However, the poor man had already died. His body was then, on the king’s orders, thrown off a stone bridge into the Vltava River. This occurred on 20 March 1393, and Jan’s remains were not retrieved from the river until 17 April 1393.

Sources from the Baroque period suggest that one reason for the king’s animosity toward John was that John served as the confessor to the king’s wife, Sophie, and refused to divulge her secrets from confession. The king’s unusual involvement in the torture chamber, where he personally burned John’s sides with torches, might indicate this animosity. However, the murder of John of Nepomuk did not go unpunished; as early as 1400, he was stripped of his title and rank as King of Rome.

Protector of Holešov and patron of the seal of confession

Jan Sarkander studied advanced Latin in Olomouc, and later theology in Graz and Prague. After he finished his studies, he became a priest in Brno on 22 March 1609. His time in Holešov turned out to be crucial, as it was there that the Catholic district governor, Ladislav Popel of Lobkovice, who had asked for Jan’s help, had requested him. Jan took over the parish in 1616, following the Protestant vicar’s departure, and quickly brought 250 parishioners—who had been Protestants—back to the Catholic faith. At that time, the duties of the parish priest also included collecting tithes, which led to a conflict with the Protestant nobleman Václav Bítovský from Bítov and Bystřice pod Hostýnem.
The Defenestration of Prague in 1618 marked the start of a chaotic time known as the Bohemian Estates’ Revolt. Moravia did not join the revolt until May 1619. With the removal of Ladislav Popel of Lobkovice, who had been supporting Jan Sarkander, the Jesuits were expelled. Hidden tensions erupted, and Jan left Holešov after being advised by his parishioners. With permission from the provost of Kroměříž, he set out in June that year on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Częstochowa in Poland. However, Popel of Lobkovice wanted Jan to return, and so Jan did. In the spring of 1620, four thousand Polish Cossacks known as ‘Lisovci’, sent by Polish King Sigismund III, invaded. They plundered castles and towns as they went. Jan, trying to defend Holešov, went out to meet them on 5 February 1620 at the head of a religious procession. When the Cossacks saw the Catholic priest carrying the Blessed Sacrament, they dismounted from their horses, bowed, and chose to bypass Holešov.

The Moravian estates then began to suspect that during his visit to Poland, Jan had negotiated in Warsaw for the dispatch of Cossacks to Moravia, which was untrue. Regardless, Jan was arrested and harshly interrogated in Olomouc from 13 to 18 February 1620. Even subjected to cruel torture, the Protestants gained no information from him about the Polish invasion of Moravia, and Jan likewise declined to disclose what Popel of Lobkovice had shared with him, honoring the seal of confession . During the torture, Jan was stretched on a rack, and his sides were also burned with torches. His torturers even tried out brutal new methods from Hungary, involving feathers soaked in sulphur and pitch – they set these ‘instruments’ on fire and threw them onto Jan’s chest and shoulders, but this, too, failed to extract any information from him. After the torture, his sides and body were so badly burned that his entrails were visible. He spent the next four weeks in prison, suffering intensely until he died on 17 March 1620.Jan Sarkander

remains were later moved ceremoniously to Olomouc, where they were interred in St Wenceslas Cathedral, in Sarkander Chapel . Hismemorial day was initially set for the date of his death, 17 March but was later changed in the Czech lands to coincide with the day of his beatification (6 May) in 1859, since March falls during Lent when saints are not typically commemorated. He was canonized during the visit

of John Paul II to Olomouc on 21 May 1995 . To Catholics, Sarkander serves as an example of a faithful servant of God, chosen as an instrument of both trials and grace. However, those from non-Catholic traditions viewed him as a symbol of aggressive re-Catholicization. In 2020, a permanent exhibition dedicated to St John Sarkanderwas established in the former chapel of St Anne’s Church in Holešov where various items from Sarkander’s time are on display, including documents, paintings, and other artifacts.