aHA!

So, I found out today that this is St. John of Nepomuk (Johann von Nepomuk). The Bambergers refer to him as the saint of the bridges. They say he is holding Christ, because he was a holy man who spent his time contemplating the suffering of Our Lord.

The Catholic Encyclopedia said that he was tortured and then drowned by Emperor Wenceslas IV either a) because he wouldn't agree politically to what the emperor wanted him to do or b) because he wouldn't reveal the Queen's confessional secrets. Either way, this was in 1393 in Prague.

He is the patron saint of confession, according to the guy from Bamberg I talked to. And I guess he is on the bridges because he was drowned.

What I find very cool, though, is that he spent his time contemplating Christ's suffering and what that meant. It is particularly interesting to me because I've been reading "A Severe Mercy" by Sheldon Vanauken, a friend of C.S. Lewis. It poses the question of why God allows pain, suffering and death ... its meaning in the context of God's Will and the furthering of the Kingdom. And of course in the context of God's great love for us.

As Vanauken and his wife Davy would say, "All shall be most well."

Go under the mercy.