Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The lesson of Pope Formosus

Pictura per Wicipaedia
A very strange trial commenced in Rome in 897 AD, a trial of a dead man.  Pope Formosus had died the previous year, but his body was exhumed and he was put on trial in the Cadaever Synod.

His late Holiness was accused of improperly assigning Bishoprics, of perjury, and of serving as a Bishop before he had been ordained.  His corpse was dressed in his vestments and propped up on a throne during the proceedings.  Eventually Formosus was (posthumously) convicted of the charges.  The vestments were stripped from the corpse, his memory was damned, the three fingers he used in blessings were hacked off, and his body was thrown into the river Tiber.

And Donald Trump complains about Nancy Pelosi ...

It seems that some of this spirit remains in Rome and the Church to this day.

7 comments:

Z@X said...

Whoa! Dude! That is full of awesome!



Beans said...

Wish they'd do this to the current occupant of that holy seat. Including tossing him into the Tiber. Maybe leave his fingers on.

Borepatch said...

Beans, that was the point of what Adam posted, and which I linked to.

Glen Filthie said...

This is why I’m getting cremated...

ProudHillbilly said...

Creative Minority Report's site header. Which is a reflection of his opinion of Francis. Cracks me up every time I see it.

https://www.creativeminorityreport.com/?m=1

ProudHillbilly said...

Drat. The first part of the sentence was supposed to be "Check out"...

Borepatch said...

ProudHillbilly, that's a riot.