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Czech pilgrims honor patron saint in Baroque-inspired parade in Prague
PRAGUE - Tourists and Catholic pilgrims commemorated on Friday the Navalis Festival which honors the Czech Republic’s patron, St. John of Nepomuk. Navalis Festival is held every year on May 15, the eve of St. John’s feast day.
The procession began from St. Vitus Cathedral, within the Prague Castle complex. It then headed to Charles Bridge, at a marker from where the body of St. John of Nepomuk had allegedly been thrown into the Vltava River on the orders of King Wenceslas IV in 1393.
Pilgrims and festival participants donned Baroque- and Slavic-inspired attire and carried fronds to honor St. John of Nepomuk, whose statue features a palm branch, a crucifix, and a halo with five stars. The palm also represents the martyrdom of St. John, who was a victim of political disputes.
St. John, made a vicar-general by an archbishop under the supervision of Pope Boniface XI in 1393, protected the freedom of the church against King Wenceslas IV. The royal, who supported the Antipope Clement VII in Avignon, saw this as a rebellion and had St. John arrested and tortured.
Czech and medieval legends have it that five stars arose from the water where St. John of Nepomuk drowned. His statue on Charles Bridge features a halo with five stars.
Navalis Festival, derived from the Latin word navalis (or “naval” or related to water), is based on Baroque-era celebrations of the 1700s, during which pilgrims would gather on the banks of the Vltava and listen to music played at platforms on the river. The festival’s current version was resumed in 2009 and has since featured fluvial performances.
John of Nepomuk, then a Catholic clergy, is also revered as the patron saint of people who work in the water (such as fishermen, mariners, gondoliers), bridges, and against the hazards of water.
Gondoliers from Venice have come to Prague to commemorate St. John of Nepomuk, who is one of the eight patron saints of the Italian city. —KG, GMA News
