by Justin Nobel
Pope Formosus died in 896. Six months later, his successor, Stephen VI, had his corpse brought to trial for capital crimes. Formosus was found guilty and his cadaver was stripped of its papal vestments, dragged through the streets of Rome and dumped in the Tiber River.
A mentally unstable woman in a bright red coat jumped a barrier and tackled Pope Benedict XVI during Christmas Eve mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. Benedict survived the attack but an examination of papal history reveals that strange and horrible deaths are actually quite common. A book has even been written on the topic, The Death of the Popes: Comprehensive accounts, including funerals, burial places, and epitaphs. The following are some of the most disturbing and unknown papal deaths..
Pope Saint Clement I – He was born in the first century A.D., became bishop of Rome and rose to the pontificate during a schism at Corinth. Not much beyond that exists in the written record, but according to legend a riot arose in Rome and a city official named Mamertinus put it down and arrested Clement. The Emperor banished him to Pontus, a city on the shores of the Black Sea, where he was condemned to work in a marble quarry. Clement gained the respect of his fellow convicts and began preaching the word of God. The group took their water from a faraway spring but one day Clement noticed a nearby lamb scraping the soil and took it as a sign that water was below. He dug and sure enough, found a spring.
This miracle converted numerous pagans but also gained the attention of Aufidianus, the local prefect. In the year 99 A.D., Aufidianus ordered Clement to be drowned in the sea with an anchor attached to his neck. A disciple named Phoebus recovered his body and the remains were transported to Constantinople and eventually Rome, where they were deposited at the Church of San Clemente. They are still there today; several bones and a vase of reddened earth.
Pope John XII – Born in 937, he was elected to the papacy at the young age of 18. Otto I helped John recover prized papal lands from Berengarius II, the King of Italy, and John crowned Otto Holy Roman Emperor as a favor in return. Otto then proclaimed himself superior to the pope in a doctrine known as Privilegium Ottonianum. When John began to plot against him Otto ushered in a new pope, Leo VIII. In January of 964 John led a rebellion against Otto and the new pope. He lost. John died in May, 964, at the age of 27. Reports on the cause of death vary. One account states that he died of a stroke while making love to a married woman; another says that he was beaten to death by the jealous husband of a woman he had made love to.
Pope Clement VII – He was born in 1478, one month after his father, Giuliano de’ Medici was assassinated at the hand of the Pazzi’s, a Florence banking family and rivals of the powerful Medici’s. Clement became a cardinal in 1513 and pope in 1523, a troublesome time for Rome. In 1527, Cardinal Pompeo Colonna’s soldiers pillaged the Vatican City and claimed control of all of Rome. The city had officially been sacked, and a prolonged bout of murder, rape and vandalism followed. Clement surrendered. He paid a ransom of 400,000 ducati and ceded several provinces in exchange for his life.
Clement was imprisoned at a towering cylindrical building known as Castel Sant’Angelo for six months. After paying off the guards he escaped, disguised as a peddler, taking shelter in a series of small towns outside the city, before returning to Rome in October, 1528. It was at the same time that Henry VIII, the King of England, wanted his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled because she was unable to produce for him a male heir that would survive into adulthood. He asked Clement to annul the marriage, but the Pope, citing canon law, refused. Clement also feared the wrath of Catherine’s nephew, Charles V, whose troops were responsible for the sacking of Rome that had embarrassed him the previous year.
Nevertheless, Henry was married to Anne Boleyn sometime toward the end of 1532 or the beginning of 1533. Clement excommunicated Henry, thus marking the beginning of England’s cleavage with the Catholic Church. Then, in September 1534, Clement died rather suddenly, after eating a “Death Cap”, a greenish mushroom widespread across Europe and commonly mistaken for other edible varieties. Although Clement had many enemies, the incident was assumed an accident.
