The Biography of Pope Stephen Vi "Grave Robber"

I am going to be informing about Pope Stephen VI. His life before he was the pope, the steps that lead up to him becoming pope, how he died soon after his insurrection, and how he became known as a grave robber. Take into account while your reading this that things were very different in the 800’s than it is now.

Stephen was born in Rome, Italy. People are still not sure when he was born, but they do know the day he died. Stephen was the son of a Roman priest named John. Stephen went into the family business when he came of age, and it was somewhat forced upon him. Stephen was later on promoted to a bishop, doing nothing to contribute to the organizational structure of the church.

Stephen was later announced the successor to Pope Boniface VI. Rome was torn by factions that were led by Roman aristocrats. The separate factions were known as the Naples, Benevento, Tuscany, and Spoleto. Since Stephen was part of the Spoleto faction, he reluctantly crowned Guy, duke of Spoleto.

The main thing that Pope Stephen VI is renown for is when he put a dead pope through a trial. The Spoleto hated previous Pope Formosus so much(he was part of their rival faction) that they ordered Pope Stephen VI to hold a trial against his corpse somewhere in January of 897. A deacon was appointed to mime the dead pope’s voice. There were multiple charges, including the pontification of John VIII. There were many more charges but against him unfairly since the Spoleto faction were biased. Pope Stephen VI decided that the corpse was found guilty and would be stripped of its sacred vestments, mainly because back then when they were appointed bishops, they had to stay in one place. Stephen had went against that rule and would have still been charged if Formosus was not deemed guilty since Formosus appointed him as a bishop, so it also went in his favor. Three of his fingers were cut off on his right hand and then the corpse was reburied, only to be dug up once again and thrown in the Tiber. At the end of the trial, both sides got what they wanted without having to fight over it.

A few months after the trial and the dumping of the body into the Tiber, and insurrection(violent uprising against an authority or government) took place, removing Stephen from his position. Deprived of papal insignia(the garments of the Pope) and imprisoned. He died no later than a week or two from strangulation. His party had no qualms with his death and found a new murderous called Pope Sergius III.

I just finished listing all of what led up to him becoming pope and why he is known as grave robber. Yes, he did come to an abrupt end not long after throwing Pope Formosus into the Tiber River, but you have to hand it to him, his hand was somewhat forced because of what faction he was part of.