Pope Formosus
Pope|English name=Formosus|image=
|birth_name=???|term_start=
October 6 891|term_end=
April 4,
896|predecessor=
Stephen V|successor=
Boniface VI|birth_date=
ca. 816|birthplace=
Ostia,
Italy|dead=dead|death_date=
April 4,
896|deathplace=
Rome,
Italy|}}
Formosus was born around
816, in
Ostia. He became
Cardinal-Bishop of
Portus in
864. He undertook diplomatic missions to
Bulgaria (
866) and
France (
869 and
872), and he persuaded
Charles the Bald, King of France, to be crowned by the pope.
As early as 872 he had been a candidate for the papacy. But due to political complications he left
Rome and the court of
Pope John VIII in that year. John convened a
synod, and Formosus was ordered to return or be
excommunicated on charges that 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, had despoiled the
cloisters in Rome, had performed the divine service in spite of the
interdict, and had conspired with certain iniquitous men and women for the destruction of the papal see. The condemnation of Formosus and others was announced in July 872. In
878 the sentence of excommunication was withdrawn, after he had promised never to return to Rome or exercise his priestly functions.
John's successor
Pope Marinus I in
883 restored him to his
suburbicarian diocese of Portus. Following the reigns of Marinus,
Pope Hadrian III (
884â€"
885) and
Pope Stephen V (
885â€"
891), Formosus was elected Pope on
October 6 891.
Formosus was forced to crown Duke
Guido II of Spoleto Roman Emperor in April
892. Other immediate issues were that in
Constantinople, the
Patriarch Photius had been ejected and
Stephen, the son of Emperor
Basil I, had taken the office. There was a quarrel between the Archbishops of
Cologne and
Hamburg concerning the Bishopric of
Bremen. In the contest between
Odo, Count of Paris and
Charles the Simple for the
French crown, the pope sided with Charles.
Formosus persuaded
Arnulf of Carinthia to advance to Rome and liberate
Italy. In
894, Arnulf subjugated all the country north of the
Po River. Guido died in December leaving his son
Lambert in the care of his mother
Agiltrude, an opponent of the
Carolingians. In the autumn of
895, Arnulf undertook his second Italian campaign, and in
896 he was crowned by the pope in Rome. The new emperor moved against Spoleto but was struck with
paralysis on the way and was unable to continue the campaign.
On
April 4,
896, Formosus died. He was succeeded by
Pope Boniface VI.
Pope Stephen VI, the successor of Boniface, influenced by Lambert and Agiltrude sat in judgment of Formosus in
897, in what was called 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 verdict was that the deceased had been unworthy of the pontificate. All his measures and acts were annulled, and the orders conferred by him were declared invalid. The papal vestments were torn from his body, the three fingers from his right hand which the pope had used in consecrations were cut off and the corpse was then thrown into the Tiber. Following the death of Stephen the body was reinterred in St. Peter's. Further trials of this nature against deceased persons were banned. But
Pope Sergius III (
904â€"
911) reapproved the decisions against Formosus. Sergius demanded the re-ordination of the bishops consecrated by Formosus, who in turn had meanwhile conferred orders on many other clerics, causing great confusion. Later the validity of Formosus's work was re-reinstated. The decision of Sergius has been subsequently disregarded by the Church.
*
Pope Formosus entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia
