18 July 1870 A.D. Vatican 1, “The Cadaver Synod,” & Trial of Exumed Pope Formosus in Papal Vestments by His Successor, Pope Stephen VI

18 July 1870 A.D.  Vatican 1, “The Cadaver Synod,” & Trial of Exumed Pope Formosus in Papal Vestments by His Successor, Pope Stephen VI

“…this see of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error”
—Vatican I, Session 4 (July, 1870), cap. IV.6.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHh7a595S3I

Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Pope Formosus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06139b.htm.  13 May 2014.

(891-896)

The pontificate of this pope belongs to that era of strife for political supremacy in Italy, which succeeded the disruption of the Carlovingian empire. Formosus was probably a native of Rome, and must have been born about 816, since, at his death, he is characterized by Vulgarius as an old man of eighty. The earliest historical information we possess concerning him is his nomination by Nicholas I as Cardinal-Bishop of Porto in 864. Nicholas must have reposed great confidence in the zeal and ability of the cardinal, since, when the Bulgarian prince Bogoris dispatched an embassy to Rome in 866 to submit a series of questions for papal decision, the pope appointed Formosus and Bishop Paulus of Populonia as his legates to Bulgaria. Formosus found such favour at the Bulgarian court that Bogoris petitioned Nicholas in 867 to appoint none other than him Archbishop of Bulgaria. To this proposal, however, Nicholas did not accede, since the canons forbade a bishop to leave his own see to undertake the government of another diocese, and Formosus returned to Rome. Bogoris afterwards renewed his petition to Hadrian II (867-872), the successor of Nicholas, but with no more favourable result. In 869, Hadrian sent Formosus with another bishop to France to assist the local bishops in allaying the domestic strife between King Lothair and his wife Theutberga. Although the death of Lothair on his return from Italy (8 Aug., 869) left the mission without an object, it gave rise to fresh complications among the Carlovingian rulers, and Formosus was sent with Bishop Gauderich of Velletri to Trent in 872, where Empress Engelberga and Louis the German were discussing the question of succession, Louis II having no male heir. At first Pope John VIII (872-882) reposed trust in Formosus, and, on the death of Louis II (875), employed him with two other bishops to convey his invitation to Charles the Bald, King of France, to come to Rome and receive the imperial crown from the hands of the pope. Charles obeyed the call, was crowned emperor on Christmas Day, 875, and before returning home, appointed Dukes Lambert and Guido of Spoleto to assist the pope against the Saracens. In 871, these nobles had been deprived of their dignities for conspiring against Louis II; but they were restored by Charles.

In the pope's entourage there were many who viewed with disapproval the coronation of Charles, and favoured the widowed Empress Engelberga and Louis the German. Fearing severe chastisement, these political opponents of the pope left Rome secretly to seek safety elsewhere. Cardinal Formosus was among the fugitives, as he dreaded the anger of the pope without knowing exactly whereby he had incurred the papal resentment. From the fact that Formosus had been sent by the pope as ambassador to Charles and now directed his flight to Abbot Hugo at Tours in Western France, it must be inferred that he was not fundamentally opposed to the coronation of Charles. He cannot, however, have been in sympathy with the pope's political views, and consequently feared lest he might share the fate of John's opponents at the papal court. As early as 872 he had been a candidate for the papal see, so that John possibly viewed him in the light of an opponent. On the flight of Formosus and the other papal officials, John convened a synod, 19 April, which ordered the fugitives to return to Rome. As they refused to obey this injunction, they were condemned by a second synod on 30 June. Against Formosus, should he fail to return, sentence of excommunication and deposition were pronounced by the first synod, the charges being that, impelled by ambition, he had aspired to the Archbishopric of Bulgaria and the Chair of Peter, had opposed the emperor and had deserted his diocese without papal permission. It follows from this that John saw in Formosus a rival whom he gravely suspected. The second synod of 30 June, after several new accusations had been brought against Formosus (e.g. that he had despoiled the cloisters in Rome, had performed the divine service in spite of the interdict, had conspired with certain iniquitous men and women for the destruction of the papal see), excluded him from the ranks of the clergy. Such charges, made against a man who was religious, moral, ascetic, and intellectual can only be referred to party spirit.

The condemnation of Formosus and the others was announced to the emperor and the Synod of Ponthion in July. In 878 John himself came to France, and the deposition of Formosus, who appeared in person, was confirmed at the synod of Troyes. According to the acts of the synod, which are however of doubtful authenticity, the sentence of excommunication against Formosus was withdrawn, after he had promised on oath never to return to Rome or exercise his priestly functions. The succeeding years were spent by Formosus at Sens. John's successor Marinus (882-884) released Formosus from his oath, recalled him to Rome, and in 883 restored him to his Diocese of Porto. During the short pontificates of Marinus and his successor Hadrian III (884-885), and under Stephen V (885-891), we learn nothing important concerning Formosus. In September, 891, he was elected to succeed Stephen. Under Stephen V the political horizon had become very threatening. Charles the Fat had reunited the Frankish kingdom in 885, but after his deposition and death in 887, Arnulf of Carinthia, the natural son of Karlmann and the nominee of the Germans, was unable to preserve its unity. In the western kingdom, Count Eudes of Paris Came forward as king; in Provence (Arelate), Louis, son of Boso; in North Burgundy (Jura), Rudolf, son of the Count of Auxerre and grandson of Louis the Pious; in Italy, Berengar of Friaul. The last-mentioned was opposed and defeated by Duke Guido (Wido) of Spoleto, who thereupon took possession of Lombardy, and assumed the title of king. Ruling now over the greater portion of Italy, Guido was a very dangerous neighbour for the papal states, especially as the Archdukes of Spoleto had been on many occasions engaged in conflict with the popes. Stephen V had unwillingly crowned Guido emperor, as King Arnulf had been unable to accept the pope's invitation to come to Rome. Consequently Formosus, after he had been unanimously elected pope by clergy and people, found himself compelled to recognize Guido's dignity and to crown him and his son Lambert Roman Emperor on April, 892. Important ecclesiastical questions claimed the pope's attention immediately after his elevation. In Constantinople, the patriarch Photius had been ejected and Stephen, the son of Emperor Basilius, elevated to the patriarchate. Archbishop Stylian of Neo-Cæsarea and the clerical opponents of Photius had written to Stephen V, requesting dispensation and confirmation for those clerics who had recognized Photius only under compulsion and had received orders at his hands. In his reply to this petition (892) Formosus insisted on a distinction of persons; indulgence might be readily shown in the case of the laity, but in the case of clerics such a course was attended with difficulties; the rule must be the sentence of the Eighth General Council (Can. iv), viz, that Photius neither had been nor was a bishop, and all clerics ordained or appointed by him must resign their office; the papal legates, Landulf and Romanus, were to consult with Stylian and Theophylactus of Ancyra on the matter. In this instance, Formosus only corroborated the decisions of his predecessors, Nicholas I and Hadrian II.

A matter of a pressing character, affecting the Church in Germany, next called for the papal decision. A quarrel had broken out between Archbishop Hermann of Cologne and Archbishop Adalgar of Hamburg concerning the Bishopric of Bremen, which Hermann claimed as suffragan. Formosus decided, in accordance with the decrees of the Synod of Frankfort (892), that Bremen should remain under the Archbishop of Hamburg until new dioceses were erected; Adalgar was to repair to the provincial synod of the Archbishop of Cologne. Formosus viewed with sorrow the political troubles that disturbed the old Frankish kingdom of the Carlovingian dynasty. In the contest between Udes (Odo) of Paris and Charles the Simple for the French crown, the pope, influenced by the Archbishop of Reims, sided with Charles and called on Arnold, the German king, to support him. The political position in Italy directly affected the pope as head of the ecclesiastical estates, and consequently his independence as head of the Church. Emperor Guido of Spoleto, the oppressor of the Holy See and the papal territories, was too near Rome; and the position of the papacy seemed very similar to its condition in the time of the Lombard kingdom, when Stephen II summoned Pepin to his assistance. Formosus secretly persuaded Arnulf to advance to Rome and liberate Italy; and, in 894, Arnulf made his first expedition, subjugating all the country north of the Po. Guido died in December of the same year, leaving his son Lambert, whom Formosus had crowned emperor, in the Care of his mother Agiltrude, the implacable opponent of the Carlovingians. In the autumn of 895 Arnulf undertook his second Italian campaign, and in February, 896, stood before the walls of Rome. Agiltrude had fortified herself in the city, but Arnulf succeeded in entering and was solemnly crowned by the pope. The new emperor thence marched against Spoleto to besiege Lambert and his mother, but was struck with paralysis on the way and was unable to continue the campaign. Shortly afterwards (4 April, 896) Formosus died. He was succeeded by Boniface VI, who reigned only fifteen days.

Under Stephen VI, the successor of Boniface, Emperor Lambert and Agiltrude recovered their authority in Rome at the beginning of 897, having renounced their claims to the greater part of Upper and Central Italy. Agiltrude being determined to wreak vengeance on her opponent even after his death, Stephen VI lent himself to the revolting scene of sitting in judgment on his predecessor, Formosus. At the synod convened for that purpose, he occupied the chair; the corpse, clad in papal vestments, was withdrawn from the sarcophagus and seated on a throne; close by stood a deacon to answer in its name, all the old charges formulated against Formosus under John VIII being revived. The decision was that the deceased had been unworthy of the pontificate, which he could not have validly received since he was bishop of another see. All his measures and acts were annulled, and all the orders conferred by him were declared invalid. The papal vestments were torn from his body; the three fingers which the dead pope had used in consecrations were severed from his right hand; the corpse was cast into a grave in the cemetery for strangers, to be removed after a few days and consigned to the Tiber. In 897 the second successor of Stephen had the body, which a monk had drawn from the Tiber, reinterred with full honours in St. Peter's. He furthermore annulled at a synod the decisions of the court of Stephen VI, and declared all orders conferred by Formosus valid. John IX confirmed these acts at two synods, of which the first was held at Rome and the other at Ravenna (898). On the other hand Sergius III (904-911) approved in a Roman synod the decisions of Stephen's synod against Formosus; all who had received orders from the latter were to be treated as lay persons, unless they sought reordination. Sergius and his party meted out severe treatment to the bishops consecrated by Formosus, who in turn had meanwhile conferred orders on many other clerics, a policy which gave rise to the greatest confusion. Against these decisions many books were written, which demonstrated the validity of the consecration of Formosus and of the orders conferred by him (see AUXILIUS).

18 July 1870 A.D. Vatican 1, “The Cadaver Synod,” Exumed Pope Formosus in Papal Vestments on Papal Chair, & Trial by His Successor, Pope Stephen VI. Chaos and Total Disorder in Rome

18 July 1870 A.D.  Vatican 1, “The Cadaver Synod,” Exumed Pope Formosus in Papal Vestments on Papal Chair,  & Trial by His Successor, Pope Stephen VI.  Chaos and Total Disorder in Rome

Yet, Vatican 1 says this:  “…this see of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error”
—Vatican I, Session 4 (July, 1870), cap. IV.6.

The Cadaver Synod (also called the Cadaver Trial or, in Latin, the Synodus Horrenda) is the name commonly given to the posthumous ecclesiastical trial of Catholic Pope Formosus, held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome during January of 897.^[1] The trial was conducted by Formosus's successor, Pope Stephen (VI) VII. Stephen accused Formosus of perjury and of having acceded to the papacy illegally. At the end of the trial, Formosus was pronounced guilty and his papacy retroactively declared null. The Cadaver Synod is remembered as one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of the medieval papacy.

Contents 

• 1 Remote context
• 2 Immediate context
• 3 The synod
• 4 Aftermath
• 5 See also
• 6 Footnotes
• 7 Further reading

Remote context

The Cadaver Synod and related events took place during a period of political instability in Italy. This period, which lasted from the middle of the 9th century to the middle of the 10th century, was marked by a rapid succession of pontiffs.^[2] Often, these brief papal reigns were the result of the political machinations of local Roman factions, about which few sources survive.

Formosus became bishop of Porto in 864 during the pontificate of Pope Nicholas I. He carried out missionary activity among the Bulgarians, and was so successful that they requested him for their bishop. Nicholas refused his permission, because an appointment in Bulgaria would require Formosus to leave his see in Porto, and the fifteenth canon of the Second Council of Nicaea forbade a bishop to leave his own see to administer another.

In 875, shortly after Charles the Bald's imperial coronation, Formosus fled Rome in fear of then-pope John VIII. A few months later in 876, at a synod in Santa Maria Rotunda, John VIII issued a series of accusations against Formosus and some of his associates. He asserted that Formosus had corrupted the mind of the Bulgarians "so that, so long as [Formosus] was alive, [they] would not accept any other bishop from the apostolic see,"^[3] that he and his fellow conspirators had attempted to usurp the papacy from John, and finally that he had deserted his see in Porto and was conspiring "against the salvation of the republic^{[verification needed]} and of our beloved Charles [the Bald]."^[4] Formosus and his associates were excommunicated.

In 878, at another council held at Troyes, John may have confirmed the excommunications. He also legislated more generally against those who "plunder" ecclesiastical goods.^[5] According to the tenth-century author Auxilius of Naples, Formosus was also present at this council. Auxilius says he begged the bishops for their forgiveness, and in return for the lifting of the excommunication, swore an oath to remain a layman for the rest of his life, to never again enter Rome, and to make no attempts to reassume his former see at Porto.^[6] This story is doubtful: another description of the synod does not mention Formosus’ presence and says instead that John confirmed his excommunication.^[7]

After the death of John VIII in December 882, Formosus' troubles ended. He reassumed his bishopric at Porto, where he remained until elected pope on 6 October 891.^[8] Yet this earlier quarrel with John VIII formed the basis of the accusations made at the Cadaver Synod. According to the tenth-century historian Liutprand of Cremona, Stephen (VI) VII asked Formosus' corpse why he "usurped the universal Roman See in such a spirit of ambition" after the death of John VIII, echoing John VIII's own assertion that Formosus had tried to seize the papal throne while he was alive.^[9] Two further accusations were also made against Formosus at the Cadaver Synod: that he had committed perjury, and that he had attempted to exercise the office of bishop as a layman.^[10] These are related to the oath Formosus is said to have sworn before the council at Troyes in 878.

Immediate context

The Cadaver Synod is generally presumed to have been politically motivated. Formosus crowned Lambert of Spoleto co-ruler of the Holy Roman Empire in 892; Lambert's father, Guy III of Spoleto, had earlier been crowned by John VIII.^[11] In 893 Formosus, apparently nervous about Guy's aggression, invited the Carolingian Arnulf of Carinthia to invade Italy and receive the imperial crown. Arnulf's invasion failed, and Guy III died shortly afterwards. Yet Formosus renewed his invitation to Arnulf in 895, and early the next year Arnulf crossed the Alps and entered Rome, where Formosus crowned him as Holy Roman Emperor. Afterwards the Frankish army departed, and Arnulf and Formosus died within months of each other in 896. Formosus was succeeded by Pope Boniface VI, who himself died two weeks later. Lambert and his mother, the empress Angiltrude, entered Rome around the time that Stephen (VI) VII became pope, and the Cadaver Synod was conducted directly afterwards, at the beginning of 897.

The dominant interpretation of these events until the early twentieth century was straightforward: Formosus had always been a pro-Carolingian, and his crowning of Lambert in 892 was coerced. After the death of Arnulf and the collapse of Carolingian authority in Rome, Lambert entered the city and forced Stephen to convene the Cadaver Synod, both to re-assert his claim to the imperial crown, and perhaps also to exact posthumous revenge upon Formosus.^[12]

This view is now considered obsolete, following the arguments put forth by Joseph Duhr in 1932. Duhr pointed out that Lambert was in attendance at the Ravenna Council of 898, convened under John IX. It was at this proceeding that the decrees of the Cadaver Synod were revoked. According to the written acta of the council, Lambert actively approved of the nullification. If Lambert and Angiltrude had been the architects of Formosus’ degradation, Duhr asked, “how [...] was John IX able to submit to the canons which condemned the odious synod for approbation of the emperor [i.e., Lambert] and his bishops? How could John IX have dared to broach the matter [...] before the guilty parties, without even making the least allusion to the emperor’s participation?”^[13] This position has been accepted by another scholar: Girolamo Arnaldi argued Formosus did not pursue an exclusively pro-Carolingian policy, and that he even had friendly relations with Lambert as late as 895. Their relations only soured when Lambert's cousin, Guy IV, marched on Benevento and expelled the Byzantines there. Formosus panicked at the aggression and sent emissaries into Bavaria seeking Arnulf's help.^[14] Arnaldi argues that it was Guy IV, who had entered Rome along with Lambert and his mother Angiltrude in January 897, who provided the impetus for the synod.^[15]

The synod

 

The list of popes buried in Saint Peter's Basilica includes the recovered body of Pope Formosus

Probably around January 897, Stephen (VI) VII ordered that the corpse of his predecessor Formosus be removed from its tomb and brought to the papal court for judgement. With the corpse propped up on a throne, a deacon was appointed to answer for the deceased pontiff.

Formosus was accused of transmigrating sees in violation of canon law, of perjury, and of serving as a bishop while actually a layman. Eventually, the corpse was found guilty. Liutprand and other sources say that Stephen had the corpse stripped of its papal vestments, cut off the three fingers of his right hand used for blessings, and declared all of his acts and ordinations (including his ordination of Stephen (VI) VII as bishop of Anagni) invalid. The body was finally interred in a graveyard for foreigners, only to be dug up once again, tied to weights, and cast into the Tiber River.

According to Liutprand’s version of the story, Stephen (VI) VII said: "When you were bishop of Porto, why did you usurp the universal Roman See in such a spirit of ambition?”^[16]

Aftermath

The macabre spectacle turned public opinion in Rome against Stephen. Rumors circulated that Formosus' body, after washing up on the banks of the Tiber, had begun to perform miracles. A public uprising led to Stephen being deposed and imprisoned. While in prison, in July or August 897, he was strangled.

In December 897, Pope Theodore II (897) convened a synod that annulled the Cadaver Synod, rehabilitated Formosus, and ordered that his body, which had been recovered from the Tiber, be reburied in Saint Peter's Basilica in pontifical vestments. In 898, John IX (898—900) also nullified the Cadaver Synod, convening two synods (one in Rome, one in Ravenna) which confirmed the findings of Theodore II's synod, ordered the acta of the Cadaver Synod destroyed, and prohibited any future trial of a dead person.

However, Pope Sergius III (904–911), who as bishop had taken part in the Cadaver Synod as a co-judge, overturned the rulings of Theodore II and John IX, reaffirming Formosus' conviction,^[17] and had a laudatory epitaph inscribed on the tomb of Stephen (VI) VII.

See also

• Posthumous execution
• Damnatio memoriae

Footnotes

1.       Jump up ^ For the date cf. Joseph Duhr, “Le concile de Ravenne in 898: la réhabilitation du pape Formose,” Recherches de science religieuse 22 (1932), p. 541 note 1

2.       Jump up ^ Wilkes, Jr., Donald E. (31 October 2001). "The Cadaver Synod: Strangest Trial in History". Flagpole Magazine (Athens, Georgia, USA): 8. Retrieved 8 October 2010. 

3.       Jump up ^ John VIII, JE 3041, ed. E.L.E. Caspar, MGH Epistolae Karolini Aevi, vol. 5, p. 327

4.       Jump up ^ John VIII, Epistolae, ed. Caspar, p. 327

5.       Jump up ^ The council acta do not survive, but the proceedings are described by Hincmar,Annales, entry for 878, ed. in Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores vol. I, p. 507

6.       Jump up ^ Auxilius,Auxilius, In defensionem sacrae ordinationis papae Formosi, I.4, ed. Dümmler, Auxilius und Vulgarius (Leipzig, 1866), p. 64

7.       Jump up ^ Hubert Mordek and Gerhard Schmitz, "Papst Johannes VIII. und das Konzil von Troyes," in Geschichtsschreibung und Geistiges Leben im Mittelalter: Festschrift für Heinz Löwe zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Karl Hauck and Hubert Mordeck (Cologne, 1978), p. 212 n 22.

8.       Jump up ^ Dümmler, Auxilius und Vulgarius, p. 6 nn. 5 and 6

9.       Jump up ^ Liutprand, Antapodosis, I.30, ed. in Corpus Christianorum: Continuatio Medievalis, vol 156, p. 23, lines 639-43

10.    Jump up ^ Council of Ravenna in 898, acta edited by J.D. Mansi,Sacrorum conciliorum, nova, et amplissima collectio, vol. 18, col. 221

11.    Jump up ^ Williams, George L. 2004. Papal Genealogy: The Families and Descendants of the Popes. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-2071-5. p. 10.

12.    Jump up ^ Cf., for example, Duchesne, Les premiers temps de l’état pontifical (Paris, 1904), p. 301; and the detailed account in the old Catholic Encyclopedia Pope Formosus

13.    Jump up ^ Joseph Duhr, “La concile de Ravenne in 898: la réhabilitation du pape Formose,” Recherches de science religieuse 22 (1932), p. 546

14.    Jump up ^ Girolamo Arnaldi, “Papa Formoso e gli imperatori della casa di Spoleto,” Annali della facoltà di lettere e filosofia di Napoli 1 (1951), p. 85ff. Portions of this view had been argued earlier by G. Fasoli, I re d’Italia (Florence, 1949), 32ff

15.    Jump up ^ Arnaldi, "Papa Formoso," p. 103

16.    Jump up ^ “Quo constituto...formosum e sepulcro extrahere atque in sedem Romani...collocare praecepit. Cui et ait: ‘Cum Portuensis esses episcopus, cur ambitionis spiritu Romanam universalem usurpasti sedem?” Liutprand, Antapodosis, I.30 (CCCM 156, p. 23, ll. 639-43). Liutprand of Cremona’s is perhaps the most convenient account of synod, though many additional details are furnished by the pro-Formosan Auxilius. Cf. Dümmler’s edition, Auxilius und Vulgarius (Leipzig, 1866), chs. IV (p. 63ff) and X (p. 70ff) especially.

17.    Jump up ^ Williams, 2004, p. 11.

Further reading

• Cummins, Joseph. 2006. History's great untold stories. pp. 10–19.
• Girolamo Arnaldi, “Papa Formoso e gli imperatori della casa di Spoleto,” Annali della facoltà di lettere e filosofia di Napoli 1 (1951), discusses the political circumstances of the synod, and argues that Stephen (VI) VII may have convened it at the impetus of Guido IV.
• Robert Browning's lengthy poem, The Ring and the Book, devotes 134 lines to the Cadaver Synod, in the chapter called The Pope.
• Joseph Duhr, “La concile de Ravenne in 898: la réhabilitation du pape Formose,” Recherches de science religieuse 22 (1932), pp. 541ff, discusses Ravenna council acta of 898, an important source and political circumstances; argues Lambert could not have been its architect
• Ernst Ludwig Dümmler, Auxilius und Vulgarius (Leipzig, 1866), edits the works of two tenth-century Italian clerics who provide important evidence for the Synod, its circumstances and aftermath. Also includes an important historical discussion of the synod in his introduction.
• Peter Llewellyn, Rome in the Dark Ages (London, 1970), narrates the history of Rome at the end of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth centuries. Llewellyn discusses both Formosus and the Cadaver Synod.
• Démètre Pop, La défense du pape Formose (Paris, 1933), analyzes posthumous defense of Formosus put forth by Auxilius and Vulgarius
• Donald E. Wilkes Jr, The Cadaver Synod: The Strangest Trial in History (2001).

• Frédéric Cathala, Le Synode du Cadavre, Les Indes Savantes, 2012.