Editing Pope Formosus

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 891 to 896}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]]
| name = Formosus
| image = Formoso.jpg
| caption = 1493 drawing of Pope Formosus by [[Bartolomeo Sacchi]]
| birth_name = 
| term_start = 6 October 891
| term_end = 4 April 896
| predecessor = [[Pope Stephen V|Stephen V]]
| successor = [[Pope Boniface VI|Boniface VI]]
| birth_date = {{circa|816}}
| birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]]
| death_date = 	4 April 896 (aged c. 80)
| death_place = Rome, Papal States
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
}}

'''Pope Formosus''' ({{circa|816}}{{snd}}896) was the [[pope]] and ruler of the [[Papal States]] from 6 October 891 until his death on 4 April 896. His reign as [[Pope]] was troubled, marked by interventions in power struggles over the [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]], the Kingdom of [[West Francia]], and the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Because he sided with [[Arnulf of Carinthia]] against [[Lambert of Spoleto]], Formosus's remains were [[Exhumation|exhumed]] and put on trial in the [[Cadaver Synod]]. Several of his immediate successors were primarily preoccupied by the controversial legacy of his pontificate.

==Early career==
Probably a native of Rome, Formosus was born around 816.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909|p=139}} He became  [[Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Porto–Santa Rufina|cardinal bishop of the suburbicarian diocese of
Portus]] in 864.{{sfnm |1a1=Kirsch |1y=1909 |1p=139 |2a1=Mann |2y=1910 |2p=46}} Two years later, [[Pope Nicholas I]] appointed him a [[papal legate|legate]] to [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]] (866). In 867, while Formosus was serving as legate to the Bulgarian court, [[Boris I]] requested that he be named archbishop of Bulgaria. Since the canons forbade a bishop to [[translation (ecclesiastical)|change sees]], the request was denied. He also undertook diplomatic missions to [[West Francia|France]] in 869 and 872.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909|pp=139–140}}

Upon the death of [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Louis II of Italy]] in 875, the nobles elected his uncle [[Charles the Bald]] as the new emperor. Formosus conveyed [[Pope John VIII]]'s invitation for Charles to come to Rome to be crowned. Charles took the crown at [[Pavia]] and received the imperial insignia in Rome on 29 December. The supporters of Louis' other uncle, [[Louis the German]], and of Louis's widow, [[Engelberga]], opposed the coronation. Fearing political retribution, many of them left Rome surreptitiously. Formosus fled to [[Tours]].{{sfn|Kirsch|1909}} On 19 April, John VIII called a synod which ordered Formosus and other papal officials to return to Rome. When Formosus did not comply, he was removed from the ranks of the clergy and [[excommunication|excommunicated]] on the grounds that he had deserted his diocese without papal permission, and had aspired to the position of archbishop of Bulgaria. Additional charges included the accusations that he had opposed the emperor; "conspired with certain iniquitous men and women for the destruction of the Papal See"; and had "despoiled the cloisters" in Rome.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909}} The condemnation of Formosus and others was announced in July 876.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909|p=140}} In 878 the sentence of excommunication was withdrawn after he promised never to return to Rome or exercise his priestly functions.<ref name="lives_of_popes_3">{{harvnb|Mann|1906|p=357}}: "And it is not unlikely that it was because John VIII. saw that Formosus might easily become the tool of designing men&nbsp;– or that at least the faction which had secured his interest might cloak their nefarious plans under the good name of the Bishop of Porto&nbsp;– that he forbade him to come to Rome again."</ref>

As early as 872 he was a candidate for the papacy; [[Johann Peter Kirsch]] suggests that the Pope may have viewed him as a potential rival.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909|p=140}} In 883, John VIII's successor, [[Pope Marinus I]], restored Formosus to his suburbicarian diocese of Portus. Following the reigns of Marinus, [[Pope Adrian III]] (884–885), and [[Pope Stephen V]] (885–891), Formosus was unanimously elected Pope on 6 October 891.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909}}

==Papacy==
[[File:Facial Chronicle - b.13, p.507 - Pope Formosus (cropped).gif|thumb|A 16th century depiction of Formosus's Papacy, from the ''[[Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible|Facial Chronicle]]'']]
Shortly after his election, Formosus was asked to intervene in the [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]], where [[Photius I]] had been ejected and [[Stephen I of Constantinople|Stephen I]], the son of Emperor [[Basil I]], had taken the office. Formosus refused to reinstate those who had been ordained by Photius, as his predecessor, Stephen V, had nullified all of Photius's ordinations. However, the Eastern bishops determined to recognize Photius's ordinations nonetheless. Formosus also immediately immersed himself in the dispute between [[Odo of France|Odo of Paris]] and [[Charles the Simple]] for the French throne. Siding with Charles, Formosus zealously exhorted Odo to cede the throne to Charles, to no avail.

Formosus was deeply distrustful of [[Guy III of Spoleto]], the reigning emperor, and began looking for support against him.<ref name="lives_of_popes_3"/> To bolster his position, Guy forced Formosus to crown his son [[Lambert II of Spoleto|Lambert]] as co-emperor in April 892. The following year, however, Formosus persuaded [[Arnulf of Carinthia]] to advance to Rome and liberate Italy from Guy's control. In 894, Arnulf's army occupied all the country north of the [[Po River]]. Guy died in December, leaving his son Lambert in the care of his mother, [[Agiltrude]], an opponent of the [[Carolingians]]. In autumn 895 Arnulf undertook his second Italian campaign, progressing to Rome by February and seizing the city from Agiltrude by force on 21 February. The following day, Formosus crowned Arnulf as emperor in [[Old St. Peter's Basilica|St. Peter's Basilica]]. The new emperor moved against Spoleto but was struck with [[paralysis]] on the way and was unable to continue the campaign.

During his papacy, Formosus also had to contend with the [[Saracens]], who were attacking [[Lazio]].{{sfn|Wickham|2014|p=22}} On 4 April 896, Formosus died.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909|p=141}} He was succeeded by [[Pope Boniface VI|Boniface VI]], whose papacy lasted 15 days.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909|p=141}}

==Legacy==
{{further|Cadaver Synod}}
[[Image:Jean Paul Laurens Le Pape Formose et Etienne VI 1870.jpg|thumb|The Cadaver Synod as portrayed by [[Jean-Paul Laurens]] in 1870]]
[[Pope Stephen VI|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 verdict was that the deceased had been unworthy of the pontificate. The {{lang|la|[[damnatio memoriae]]}} was applied to Formosus, 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 he had used in blessings were cut off, and the corpse was thrown into the [[Tiber]], later to be retrieved by a monk.

Following the death of Stephen VI, Formosus's body was reinterred in [[St Peter's Basilica]]. Further trials of this nature against deceased persons were banned, but [[Pope Sergius III|Sergius III]] (904–911) reapproved the decisions against Formosus. Sergius demanded the re-ordination of the bishops consecrated by Formosus, who in turn had conferred orders on many other clerics, causing great confusion. Later, the validity of Formosus's pontificate was re-reinstated. The decision of Sergius with respect to Formosus has subsequently been universally disregarded by the [[Catholic Church]], since Formosus's condemnation had little to do with piety and more to do with politics.

==References==
===Footnotes===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity}}
{{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book
|last=Brusher
|first=Joseph
|year=1959
|chapter=Sergius III
|chapter-url=http://cfpeople.org/Books/Pope/POPEp120.htm#T1
|title=Popes Through the Ages
|publisher=Neff-Kane
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201105459/http://cfpeople.org/Books/Pope/POPEp120.htm
|archive-date=1 February 2008
|access-date=2 January 2008
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Darras
|first=Joseph-Epiphane
|author-link=Joseph-Epiphane Darras
|year=1898
|title=A General History of the Catholic Church
|url=https://archive.org/details/ageneralhistory03spalgoog
|volume=2
|location=New York
|publisher=Excelsior Catholic Publishing House
|access-date=31 January 2018
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Gregorovius
|first=Ferdinand
|author-link=Ferdinand Gregorovius
|year=1903
|title=The History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages
|volume=3
|edition=2nd
|location=London
|publisher=George Bell & Sons
}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
|last=Kirsch
|first=Johann Peter
|author-link=Johann Peter Kirsch
|year=1909
|editor1-last=Herbermann
|editor1-first=Charles G.
|editor1-link=Charles George Herbermann
|editor2-last=Pace
|editor2-first=Edward A.
|editor2-link=Edward A. Pace
|editor3-last=Pallen
|editor3-first=Condé B.
|editor3-link=Condé Benoist Pallen
|editor4-last=Shahan
|editor4-first=Thomas J.
|editor4-link=Thomas Joseph Shahan
|editor5-last=Wynne
|editor5-first=John J.
|title=Pope Formosus
|encyclopedia=[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]
|volume=6
|location=New York
|publisher=Encyclopedia Press
|publication-date=1913
|pages=139–141
|title-link=wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Pope Formosus
}} This article incorporates text from this public-domain publication.
* {{cite book
|last=Mann
|first=Horace K.
|year=1906
|title=The Lives of the Popes In The Early Middle Ages
|url=https://archive.org/details/livesofpopesinea03mann
|volume=3
|location=London
|publisher=Keegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.
|access-date=1 February 2018
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Mann
|first=Horace K.
|author-mask={{long dash}}
|year=1910
|title=The Lives of the Popes In The Early Middle Ages
|url=https://archive.org/details/livesofpopesinea04mannuoft
|volume=4
|location=London
|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co.
|access-date=8 January 2008
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Miley
|first=John
|author-link=John Miley
|year=1850
|title=The History of the Papal States From Their Origin to the Present Day
|url=https://archive.org/details/historypapalsta05milegoog
|volume=2
|location=London
|publisher=T.C. Newby
|access-date=1 February 2018
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Milman
|first=Henry Hart
|author-link=Henry Hart Milman
|year=1867
|title=History of Latin Christianity
|volume=3
|edition=4th
|location=London
|publisher=John Murray
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Mosheim
|first=Johann Lorenz von
|author-link=Johann Lorenz von Mosheim
|year=1852
|title=Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RxEQAAAAYAAJ
|volume=2
|translator-last=Murdock
|translator-first=James
|edition=5th
|location=New York
|publisher=Stanford and Swords
|access-date=8 January 2008
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Platina
|first=B.
|author-link=Bartolomeo Platina
|year=1479
|title=The Lives of the Popes from the Time of Our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII
|url=https://archive.org/details/thelivesofthepop01platuoft
|volume=1
|location=London
|publisher=Griffith Farran & Co.
|access-date=8 January 2008
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Wickham
|first=Chris
|author-link=Christopher Wickham
|year=2014
|title=Medieval Rome: Stability and Crisis of a City, 900–1150
|location=Oxford
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|isbn=978-0-19-103090-1
}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
|last=Bautz
|first=Friedrich Wilhelm
|year=1990
|title=Formosus, Papst
|url=http://www.bbkl.de/f/formosus_p.shtml
|editor-last=Bautz
|editor-first=Friedrich Wilhelm
|encyclopedia=Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon
|language=de
|volume=2
|location=Hamm, Germany
|publisher=Bautz
|at=cols.&nbsp;70–71
|isbn=978-3-88309-032-0
}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline}}
*{{wikisource author-inline}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Stephen V|Stephen V]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=891–896}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Boniface VI]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Formosus}}
[[Category:810s births]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:896 deaths]]
[[Category:9th-century popes]]
[[Category:Diplomats for the Holy See]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:People from Ostia (Rome)]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:People excommunicated by the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Heads of government who were later imprisoned]]
[[Category:Clergy from Rome]]
[[Category:Burials at St. Peter's Basilica]]