Bell, Book, and Candle

Bell, Book, and Candle, in Roman Catholicism, a literary expression which primarily denoted excommunication but later came to be associated with other ecclesiastical judgments. The expression is derived from the type of excommunication called anathema, the severest form of excommunication in the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman pontifical, or liturgical book, which describes the ritual of anathema, calls for the assistance, during the ceremony, of 12 priests carrying lighted candles. After the bishop has read the sentence of condemnation from the book, candles are thrown down as a symbol of the quenching of grace in the offender's soul. After 1190 a bell was tolled during the ritual, as for one dead, but this part of the ceremony is no longer contained in the rubrics.