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Formosus was born around 816, in Ostia. He became
Cardinal-Bishop of Porto in 864. He undertook
diplomatic missions to Bulgaria (866) and France
(869 and 872), and he persuaded Charles the Bald,
King of France, to be crowned by the pope. 

As early as 872 he had been a candidate for the
papal see. But due to political complications he
left Rome and the court of Pope John VIII in that
year. John convened a synod, and Formosus was
ordered to return or be
excommunication|excommunicated on charges that he
had aspired to the Archbishopric of Bulgaria and
the Holy See|Chair of Peter, 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sentence of excommunication was withdrawn, after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 had promised never to return to Rome or
exercise his priestly functions. 

John's successor Pope Marinus I in 883 restored
him to his Diocese of Porto. Following the reigns
of Marinus, Pope Hadrian III (884–885) and Pope
Stephen V (885–891), Formosus was elected Pope
on October 6 891. 

Formosus was forced to crown Duke Guido of Spoleto
Roman Emperor in April 892. Other immediate issues
were that in Constantinople, the patriarch Photius
had been ejected and Patriarch Stephanus
I|Stephen, the son of Emperor Basil I, had taken
the office. There was a quarrel between the
Archbishops of Cologne and Hamburg concerning the
Bishopric of Bremen. In the contest between Odo,
Count of Paris and Charles the Simple for the
France|French crown, the pope sided with Charles.

Formosus persuaded Arnulf of Carinthia to advance
to Rome and liberate Italy. In 894, Arnulf
subjugated all the country north of the Po. Guido
died in December leaving his son Lambert of
Spoleto|Lambert in the care of his mother
Agiltrude, an opponent of the Carolingians. In the
autumn of 895, Arnulf undertook his second Italian
campaign, and in 896 he was crowned by the pope in
Rome. The new emperor moved against Spoleto but
was struck with paralysis on the way and was
unable to continue the campaign.

On April 4, 896, Formosus died. He was succeeded
by Pope Boniface VI.

Pope Stephen VII, the successor of Boniface,
influenced by Lambert and Agiltrude sat in
judgment of Formosus in 897, in what was called
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. 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 which the pope had used in consecrations were
cut off and the corpse was then thrown into the
Tiber. Following the death of Stephen the body was
reinterred in St. Peter's.  Further trials of this
nature against deceased persons were banned.  But
Pope Sergius III (904–911) reapproved the
decisions against Formosus. Sergius demanded the
re-ordination of the bishops consecrated by
Formosus, who in turn had meanwhile conferred
orders on many other clerics, causing great
confusion. Later the validity of Formosus's work
was re-reinstated.  The decision of Sergius has
been subsequently disregarded by the Church as
Sergius was an morality|immoral man guilty of
having murdered others.

Pope|
Predecessor=Pope Stephen VI|Stephen VI|
Successor=Pope Boniface VI|Boniface
VI|Dates=891–896

== External links ==
*http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06139b.htm Pope
Formosus entry in the Catholic Encyclopdia