Also Synodus Horrenda , Cadaveric Synod, Terror Trial, Corpse Trial. Macabre Council of the Catholic Church, convened in January 897 in the Basilica of St. John Lateran by Stephen VI v Formoso I, who died poisoned nine months earlier and accused of perjury and of illegitimately assuming the office. The putrid corpse was exhumed, placed before everyone in papal attire and condemned ( damnatio memoriae). After cutting off his thumb, forefinger and heart of his right hand he was thrown into the Tiber. Stephen VI was strangled a few months later.
