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Sorcerer's apprentice

@signorformica / signorformica.tumblr.com

"I learned long ago that there are no people interesting to know except saints, scoundrels, and cranks. The only persons whose conversation amounts to anything" - J-K. Huysmans: Là-Bas (1892) Bibliothèque Infernale: http://on.fb.me/1Rmpe6H
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NOW CHILDREN WE’RE GOING TO RECALL THE BRUTAL, CRAZED STORY of what happened to the good ol' Roman Pope Formosus in the year of our Lord 897.

These were years in which Popes mortality was really high —there were eleven pontiffs in ten years, mostly murdered—, and Formosus turned out to be an uncompromising man that challenged the emperor Guido de Spoleto, by declaring Arnulfo de Carintia Holy Roman Emperor instead of Spoleto’s son.

After the violent and never clarified death of Pope Formosus in April 896, Boniface VI was elevated to the pontificate: a priest with a dark past who lasted only 15 days. Boniface VI was followed by Pope Stephen VI, an ally of the Spoletos and the man in charge of executing his maniacal revenge: Stephen VI declared that Formosus had been a heretic and a sinner and ordered his exhumation and trial.

So, after nine months in his grave, the corpse was taken out, dressed in papal ornaments and seated before the ecclesiastical tribunal, being tied to a chair to prevent it from slipping.

“There was a terrible stench emanating from the remains of the corpse. In spite of all this, Formosus was brought before the Court, stripped of its sacral vestments, with the papal miter over his almost skeletonized head where the worms swarmed in the empty basins", according to an eyewitness account.

Eventually, the corpse —always silent— was found guilty and his pontificate, illegitimate; and a group of soldiers dragged him through Rome casting the body into the Tiber River.

“This macabre spectacle turned public opinion in Rome against Stephen VI. Rumors circulated that Formosus' body, after washing up on the banks of the Tiber, had begun to perform miracles. A public uprising led to Stephen VI being deposed and imprisoned. While in prison, in July or August 897, he was strangled.”

These events would become known as The Cadaver Synod; in Latin: Synodus Horrenda.

*Image: Concile cadavérique de 897. Jean Paul Laurens ~ 1870 Musée des Beaux Arts. Nantes • via Bibliothèque Infernale on FB

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Miniature of the Israelite prophet Isaiah being sawn in two under the orders of Manasseh, king of the Kingdom of Judah. *Heures de Louis de Laval. Jean Bourdichon illuminator ~ 15th century • via Bibliothèque Infernale on FB

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Extra! News flash from Sicily!

ALEISTER CROWLEY ORGIES IN SICILY — “CAKES OF GOATS' BLOOD AND HONEY” — IL DUCE MUSSOLINI SAYS "ENOUGH!" — "THE BEAST 666 IS BACK"— WHY FRANCE FINALLY KICKED OUT THE HIGH PRIEST OF THE DEVIL CULT • via Bibliothèque Infernale on FB

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Folks, long time without summoning the old Pazūzu —prince in Mesopotamia of the demons of the wind, bearer of plagues, delirium, and fever—, to bless all your sins, depravities and indescribable vices • via Bibliothèque Infernale on FB

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“Energy is an eternal delight, and he who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.” William Blake, Proverbs of Hell  *A Squatted Devil with Young Horns. William Blake ~ 1810 Princeton University • via Bibliothèque Infernale on FB

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A jealous wife murders her husband's young mistress, cuts off her genitalia and serves them to him for dinner: another of the gruesome ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") by Utagawa Yoshiiku, published (and censored by the authorities of Imperial Japan) in the Osaka Daily newspaper in 1875. University of Tokyo Study Library III • via Bibliothèque Infernale on FB

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