The Bizarre Trial of Pope Formosus

Born some time around 816 AD, Formosus became Bishop of Porto in 864 and was elevated to the papacy on October 6, 891. He has been described as an able Pope, an intelligent and even spiritual man, which was unusual for popes during the so-called Iron Age of the Papacy. He also seems to have had a capacity for making enemies, among them the powerful Spoleto family and a man named Stephen, who had been consecrated as Bishop of Agnani by Formosus, and whose deep personal hatred for Formosus approached the fanatical.

Formosus became ill and died on April 4, 896 and was buried in St. Peter's Basilica. He was succeeded by Boniface VI, who died suddenly after only fifteen days as pope. The next pope was his old enemy, Stephen, who owed his elevation to the throne to the very Spoleto family that Formosus had tried to suppress.

The Spoleto family wasted little time in avenging themselves on the dead Formosus. They hunted down and killed many of Formosus' friends and followers, and eventually turned on Formosus himself, pushing Stephen VII to convene a trial to discredit him.

Ignoring the fact that his own election could be held as a violation of the same canon laws, Stephen charged Formosus with perjury, violation of canons prohibiting the transfer of bishops from one see to another, and for coveting St. Peter's throne. It is interesting that he was not charged with heresy.

There was a genuine reason to question Formosus' legitimacy as Pope. Church law held that bishops could not become pope if they were bishops of another see, and Formosus had never been Bishop of Rome. Thus all of Formosus' acts and pronouncements would be nullified and any ordinations of bishops and priests would also be invalid.

Perhaps Stephen was attempting to please his Spoleto patrons, or maybe he was trying to satisfy his own dark hatred for Formosus. In any case, Stephen's unique approach to discrediting Formosus created a farce that has embarrassed the Church to this day.

Stephen convened his synod sometime in January 897 seven months after Formosus' death. He ordered that Formosus' body be removed from its tomb and brought to the chambers where the trial was to be held. The rotting corpse, dressed in its pontifical vestments, was propped into a chair. A young deacon was appointed to "speak" for Formosus, and the trial began.

Working himself into a hysterical frenzy, Stephen screamed and ranted against his opponent, mocking Formosus and hurling insults, watched by a frightened and horrified group of Roman clergymen who had been forced to act as co-judges. Occasionally, Stephen stopped screaming long enough to catch his breath, momentarily offering the frightened young deacon to offer a weak rebuttal to Stephen's charges. Undoubtedly, many of the clergymen who witnessed Stephen's maniacal performance were convinced that he was a raving lunatic. They also must have realized that if they found Formosus innocent of the charges, they risked becoming victims themselves of Stephen's angry revenge.

The guilty verdict against Formosus was no surprise. But Stephen was not finished. Three fingers on the corpse's right hand, used to bestow papal blessings, were cut off, then the dead pope was consigned to a common grave. But even that was not enough, and shortly thereafter, Formosus' body was exhumed again and thrown into the Tiber River, where it was rescued by a courageous hermit and given a decent burial.

Pope Stephen VII's, horrific trial of Formosus' corpse, coupled with a major earthquake in Rome that the people took to be a sign of displeasure from God, led to a popular revolt in Rome and demands for his removal as Pope. The Spoleto family obliged. They removed Stephen from the papal throne and threw him into prison, where he was strangled in August of 897. Stephen VI had held the throne for a little more than a year.

Formosus was declared innocent and rehabilitated by Stephen VII's successor, Theodore II, and his body was brought back to St. Peter's Basilica and reburied in its own tomb. Later, the Church prohibited any trial of a dead person.

There has never been a Pope called Formosus II, probably for good reason.

Selected Sources:

The Pope Encyclopedia, Matthew Bunson, 1995, Crown Trade Paperbacks, New York, NY
http://catholic.com/thisrock/1998/9801fea4.asp
http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title:Pope_formosus
http://www.law.uga.edu/academics/profiles/dwilkes_more/his31_cadaver.htl