The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1912-06-27

eyes OF Constantine were put
out by Stephen, acting in Christ's
place. The tongue of Bishop Theo-
dorus was amputated by the man
who had been substituted for God.
This bishop was left in a dungeon to
perish of thirst. Pope Leo III. was
seized in the streets and forced into
a church, where the nepheWs Of
Pope Adrian attempted to put out
his eyes and cut off his tongue. His
successor, Stephen ", was driven
ANONYMOUSLY from Rome. His sue
cessor, Paschal l., was accused of
binding and numbering two eccle-
siastics in the Lateran Palace. John
Will, unable to resist the Moham-
medans, was compelled to pay them
tribute.
At this time the Bishop of Naples
was in secret alliance with the Mo-
hammedans, and they divided with
this Catholic bishop the plumber they
collected from other Catholics. The
bishop was communicated by the
pope; afterwards he gave him abso-
luton because he betrayed the chief
Mohammedans, and assassinated
others. There was an ecclesiastical
conspiracy to murder the pope, and
some of the treasures of the church
were seized, and the gate of St. Pan
craZia was opened with false keys to
admit the Saracens. Formosus, VINO
had been engaged in these transac-
lions, who had been communicated
as a conspirator for the murder of
Pope John, was himself elected pope
in 891. Boniface VI. was his sue
cessor. He had been deposed from
the diaconate and from the priest
hood for his immoral and lewd life.
Stephen VII. was the next pope, and
he had the dead body of Formosus
taken from the grave, clothed in
purple habiliments, propped up in
chair and tried before the Council.
The corps was found guilty, three
fingers were cut off and the body cast
into the Tiber. Afterwards Stephen
VII, this Vicar of Christ, was thrown
into prison and strangled-
From 896 to 900, five popes were
consecrated. Leo ", in less than
two months after he became pope,
was cast into prison by Christopher,
one Of his chaplains. This Christie
pher usurped his place, and in lit
tie while was expelled from Rome
by Sergius III, who became pope in
905. This pope lived in criminal
intercourse with the celebrated
Theodore, who with her daughters,
MaroZia and Theodore, both prosti-
tutes, exercised an extraordinary
control over him. The love of The
odora was also shared by John x.
She gave him. the Arch bishopric Of
Ravenna, and made him pope in 915.
The daughter of Theodore overthrow
this pope. She surprised him in the
Lateran Palace. His brother, Peter,
was killed; the pope was thrown
into prison, where he was afterward
murdered. Afterward, this Marozia,
daughter of Theodore, made her own
son pope, John XI. Many affirmed
that Pope Sergius was his father, but
his mother inclined to attribute him
to her husband Alberto, whose
brother Guido she afterward mar
ried. Another OF her sons, Alberto,
jealous of his brother John, the
pope, cast him and their mother into
prison. Alberic's son was then
elected pope as John XII.
John was nineteen years old when
he became the Vicar of Christ. His
reign was characterized by the most
shocking immoralities, so that the
Emperor Ohio I. was compelled by
the German clergy to interfere. He
was tried. 1t appeared that John
had received brides for the consecra-
ton of bishops; that he had ordained