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Le jugement du pape Formose, c.1870. The judgment of Pope Formosus. After the death of Formosus in 896 CE, Pope Stephen VI sat in judgment of him in 897, in what is known as the Cadaver Synod. The corpse was disinterred, dressed 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 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 River Tiber.