Pope Theodore II (Latin:Theodorus II; 840 – December 897) was thebishop of Rome and ruler of thePapal States for twenty days in December 897. His short reign occurred during a period of partisan strife in theCatholic Church, which was entangled with a period of violence and disorder incentral Italy. His main act as pope was to annul the recentCadaver Synod, therefore reinstating the acts and ordinations ofPope Formosus, which had themselves been annulled byPope Stephen VI. He also had the body of Formosus recovered from the riverTiber and reburied with honour. He died in office in late December 897.
Little is known of Theodore's background; he is recorded as being born a Roman, and the son of Photios. His brother Theodosius (or Theosius) was also a bishop.[1][2] Theodore wasordained as a priest byPope Stephen V.[1]
In January 897,Pope Stephen VI held what is known as theCadaver Synod. Because his predecessor,Formosus, sided withArnulf of Carinthia rather than Stephen's ally,Lambert of Spoleto, in their struggle for the imperial dignity, Stephen had the corpse of Formosus exhumed and tried for "perjury, violating the canons prohibiting thetranslation of bishops, and coveting the papacy".[3] The dead pope was found guilty, his body thrown in theTiber, and all his acts and ordinations were annulled. Supporters of Formosus rebelled and deposed Stephen VI. His successor,Romanus, is generally assumed to have been pro-Formosus, but he too was soon deposed.[4]
Theodore II was elected to succeed the deposed Romanus aspope. The exact dates of Theodore II's pontificate are unknown, but modern sources generally agree that he was pope for twenty days during December 897.[1][2]Flodoard, a tenth-century French chronicler, only credited Theodore with a twelve-day reign,[5] while in his history of the popes,Alexis-François Artaud de Montor listed Theodore's reign as being twenty days, from 12 February to 3 March 898.[6]
Like Romanus, Theodore was a supporter of Formosus. Some historians believe that Romanus had been deposed because he had not acted to restore Formosus' honour quickly enough, though others suggest that he was removed by supporters of Stephen VI. In either case, Theodore immediately threw himself into the task of undoing the Cadaver Synod. He called his own synod, which annulled the rulings set out by Stephen VI. In so doing, he restored the acts and ordinations of Formosus, including the restoration of a large number of clergy and bishops to their offices.[2] Theodore also ordered Formosus' body to be recovered from the harbour ofPortus, where it had been secretly buried, and restored to the original grave atOld St. Peter's Basilica.[2] Like Romanus before him, Theodore bestowed aprivilege upon theSee of Grado,[7] and had a coin minted, bearing the name of Lambert on the obverse, and "Scs. Petrus" and "Thedr." on the reverse.[1]
Flodoard cast Theodore in a positive light, describing him as "beloved of the clergy, a friend of peace, temperate, chaste, affable and a great lover of the poor."[1] He died in office, though the cause of his death is unknown.[2] Because of this, some writers, such as Wendy Reardon,[8] suggest the possibility of foul play.[9] Horace Kinder Mann offers a different suggestion in his papal history, noting that it is possible that popes who were "infirm or even older than [...] their predecessors" might have been elected intentionally.[1] Theodore was buried at St. Peter's Basilica, buthis tomb was destroyed during the demolition of the old basilica in the seventeenth century.[8]
After Theodore's death, bothJohn IX andSergius III claimed to have been elected pope; the latter was excommunicated and driven from the city, though he did later become pope in 904. John IX held synods reaffirming that of Theodore II, and he further banned the trial of people after their death.[10] In turn, Sergius III later annulled the synods of Theodore II and John IX, and reinstated the validity of the Cadaver Synod.[11]
