Bell, book, and candle
Excommunication ritual / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Bell, Book & Candle (disambiguation).
The phrase "bell, book, and candle" refers to a Latin Christian method of excommunication by anathema, imposed on a person who had committed an exceptionally grievous sin. Evidently introduced by Pope Zachary around the middle of the 8th century,[1] the rite was once used by the Latin Church.