Formosus
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Pope Formosus |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Papacy began | 6 October 891 |
| Papacy ended | 4 April 896 |
| Predecessor | Stephen V |
| Successor | Boniface VI |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 816 Ostia, Papal States |
| Died | 4 April 896 Rome, Papal States |
Pope Formosus (birth name unknown; c. 816 – 4 April 896) was Pope from 6 October 891 to his death in 896. His brief reign as Pope was troubled, and his remains were exhumed and put on trial in the Cadaver Synod.
Born at 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 the Franks, to be crowned as emperor by the Pope in 875.
As early as 872 he was a candidate for the papacy, but due to political complications he left Rome and the court of Pope John VIII that year. John convened a synod, and Formosus was ordered to return or be excommunicated on charges that he had aspired to the Bulgarian Archbishopric and the Holy See; 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 In 878 the sentence of excommunication was withdrawn after he promised never to return to Rome or exercise his priestly functions.
In 883, John's successor Marinus I restored Formosus to his suburbicarian diocese of Portus. Following the reigns of Marinus, Pope Hadrian III (884–885) and Pope Stephen V (885–891), Formosus was elected Pope on 6 October 891. According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, the vote for Formosus was unanimous.
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