Pope Stephen VI decided to dig up the corpse of Pope Formosus, who had been dead for eight months, so that Formosus could be put on trial before a synod of bishops. The decaying cadaver was placed on a chair, given a lawyer, and then found guilty. The sentence was to be stripped of his sacred garments, which were ripped off, taking with them pieces of his putrefied body, and to have three fingers of his right hand cut off—the three fingers he had used to bless the faithful. The day's festivities concluded with Formosus being tossed into the Tiber River, after which appropriate hymns were sung.