Country of Origins: Vatican City

Date of Event: 897

The Cadaver Snyod is an ecclesiastical trial of the recently deceased Pope Formosus held by the then-current pope, Stephen VII. The trial, which took place in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, consisted of Pope Formosus being exhumed from his grave, and supposedly placed on the papal throne in papal vestments. While Formosus was sitting on the throne, Stephen VII presumed over the entirety of the trial. Stephen VII read the crimes Formosus was accused of and simultaneously found him guilty on all accounts. Formosus was accused of transmigrating sees in violation of canon law, perjury, and serving as a bishop while actually a laysman.

Motivated by politics, Stephen VII held this trial in an effort to appease Lambert of Spoleto. Formosus was bullied into crowning Lambert co-ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, terrified of his father, Guy of Spoleto. Eventually, however, Formosus invited the Caroliginian, Arnulf of Carinthia, to invade Rome and “forcefully” take the Holy Roman Empire’s crown. While he did fail, Guy of Spoleto soon died, Arnulf crossed the Alps into Rome, and Formosus gladly crowned him the Holy Roman Emperor. When Lambert, his mother, the Empress Angiltrude, and his cousin, Guy IV of Spoleto marched into Rome to retake the crown, the new pope Stephen VII quickly crowned him. In an effort to discredit Formosus, Stephen VII was forced to hold the Cadaver Snyod.

After being found guilty, Formosus’ corpse was stripped of his papal vestments, removed the three fingers of his right hand, the fingers used for benedictions, and declared all of his ordinations and acts invalid. Ironically, one of his ordinations was ordaining Stephen VII as Bishop of Anagni. After Formosus’ cadaver was mutilated, he was interred in a graveyard specifically for foreigners. Soon after, it was dug up, weighted down, and thrown into the Tiber River.

The Cadaver Snyod was immensely negative for Stephen VII, as it caused his public image to become exceedingly negative. Rumor stated that Formosus’ body had washed up on the Tiber River, and began to perform miracles. This continued to push the public against Stephen VII, and they eventually performed an uprising, and Stephen VII was deposed and imprisoned. Soon after, he was strangled to death. The next two popes to be elected conducted synods to negate the acts performed in the Cadaver Snyod. However, the third pope to be elected, Pope Sergius III had taken part in the Cadaver Snyod as a co-judge. He overturned the verdicts of the two preceding popes, and had a laudatory epitaph written on Stephen VII’s tomb.

(Author’s Note: I’m terribly, terribly sorry for disappearing for nearly a month. Things have gotten hectic for me in these summer months, and for several personal reasons that I will not divulge, I have been unable to update. I will try my best to stay consistent. Hope you enjoy today’s daily lesson! :D)