Uploaded May 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Ah, the cadaver synod - this one’s a classic. In 897, Pope Stephen VI held a trial for his predecessor, Pope Formosus, who by this point had been dead for seven months. He dug up the body, placed it in the courtroom, and proceeded to yell angrily at it for several hours, only occasionally allowing a deacon to speak on the body’s behalf. Then he declared Formosus guilty, un-Poped him, cut off his fingers, and buried him in a graveyard for foreigners. Then changed his mind, dug up the body again, and threw it into the Tiber river. The body then washed up on shore, where a monk found it and claimed the dead Pope began performing miracles. Stephen was imprisoned and strangled to death around the same time, and his successor declared the whole thing to be a sham and finally had Formosus re-buried in the Vatican. Or at least, whatever was left of him. #shorts
Ah, the cadaver synod - this one’s a classic. In 897, Pope Stephen VI held a trial for his predecessor, Pope Formosus, who by this point had been dead for seven months. He dug up the body, placed it in the courtroom, and proceeded to yell angrily at it for several hours, only occasionally allowing a deacon to speak on the body’s behalf. Then he declared Formosus guilty, un-Poped him, cut off his fingers, and buried him in a graveyard for foreigners. Then changed his mind, dug up the body again, and threw it into the Tiber river. The body then washed up on shore, where a monk found it and claimed the dead Pope began performing miracles. Stephen was imprisoned and strangled to death around the same time, and his successor declared the whole thing to be a sham and finally had Formosus re-buried in the Vatican. Or at least, whatever was left of him. #shorts
