The phrase "Bell, book, and candle" refers to an archaic method of excommunication for

one who had committed a particularly grievous sin. Apparently introduced around the
late 9th century, the practice was once used by the Roman Catholic Church. This
ceremony involved a bishop, with 12 priests, reciting an oath on the altar:
"We separate him, together with his accomplices and abettors, from the precious
body and blood of the Lord and from the society of all Christians; we exclude him from
our Holy Mother, the Church in Heaven, and on earth; we declare him excommunicate
and anathema; we judge him damned, with the Devil and his angels and all the
reprobate, to eternal fre until he shall recover himself from the toils of the devil and
return to amendment and to penitence."
After reciting this the priests would respond "So be it!" The bishop would ring a bell to
evoke a death toll, close a holy book to symbolize the excommunicant's separation from
the church, and snuf out a candle or candles, knocking them to the foor to represent
the target's soul being extinguished and removed from the light of God.