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The Cadaver Synod (also called the Cadaver Trial; Latin: Synodus Horrenda) is the name commonly given to the ecclesiastical trial of Pope Formosus, who had been dead for about seven months, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome during January 897. [1]
The Cadaver Synod as portrayed by Jean-Paul Laurens in 1870. Stephen VI, the successor of Boniface VI, influenced by Lambert and Agiltrude, sat in judgment of Formosus in 897, in what is known as the Cadaver Synod. The corpse was disinterred, clad in papal vestments, and seated on a throne to face all the charges from John VIII.
The rotting corpse of Formosus was exhumed and put on trial, before an unwilling synod of the Roman clergy, in the so-called Cadaver Synod in January 897. Pressure from the Spoleto contingent and Stephen's fury with Formosus probably precipitated this extraordinary event. [4]
Formosus: Originally buried in old Saint Peter's; exhumed, defrocked, defingered, and thrown in the Tiber River (see: Cadaver Synod); reinterred in Old Saint Peter's; destroyed during the demolition [36] 896-896 Boniface VI: Located in the portico. Destroyed during the demolition. [36] 896–897 Stephen VI: Located in the portico.
Formosus FORMOSVS: Formosus c. 816 Ostia, Papal States 75 / 80 Subject and later the sovereign of the Papal States. In early 897 posthumously executed following the Cadaver Synod. His body was reburied with full Christian honours in 897. 112 11 April 896 – 26 April 896 (15 days) Boniface VI BONIFATIVS Sextus: Bonifatius Rome, Papal States
Sergius ceased to act as Bishop of Caere with the death of Formosus in 896, as all of the ordinations conferred by Formosus were declared null and void, [15] although Formosus' ordination of Sergius was later reconfirmed by Theodore II. [16] He also actively participated in the farcical Cadaver synod that condemned the pontificate of Formosus. [17]
Pope Formosus, who was posthumously exhumed and tried in the Cadaver Synod, had previously been excommunicated by his predecessor as pope; all the participants in the Cadaver Synod themselves were later excommunicated
Like Romanus, Theodore was a supporter of Formosus. Some historians believe that Romanus had been deposed because he had not acted to restore Formosus' honour quickly enough, though others suggest that he was removed by supporters of Stephen VI. In either case, Theodore immediately threw himself into the task of undoing the Cadaver Synod.