Synodus Horrenda

The Synodus Horrenda, usually known in English as the Trial of the Cadaver, was held in Rome in January 897. The new Pope, Stephen VII, put the corpse of his deceased predecessor Formosus on trial for perjury, simony (buying church offices), and other offenses against "Reason and the Canons of the Church." This was a tough era for the papacy, as the collapse of Carolingian imperial power left the office in the hands of squabbling factions in Rome. Several popes came and went quickly. The future Pope Formosus had actually been excommunicated by one of his predecessors, John VIII, for (among other things) "perverting the Bulgarians." Formosus came into office hurling accusations against the recently dead John VIII and promising to undo his crimes.

But Stephen went one better by actually putting Formosus' body on trial. Since he could hardly defend himself, Formosus was not surprisingly found guilty, and his entire papacy was declared null and void. The convicted body was thrown in the Tiber.

By December, though, Stephen himself was dead, and Formosus' friends set about rehabilitating him. Pope Theodore II convened another Synod in which he overturned the conviction of the corpse. Formosus' body -- or what was said to be Formosus' body, anyway -- was retrieved and buried in St. Peters. This synod also passed a law forbidding any future trials of the dead.

Painting by Jean-Paul Laurens, 1870.