# XI: Excommunicatio explained — The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

> Chapter companion for The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne.

## What happens

This chapter presents the full Latin text of the excommunication formula attributed to Ernulfus, Bishop of Rochester, a comprehensive and elaborate curse against a thief or malefactor. The curse invokes the authority of God, the Virgin Mary, angels, patriarchs, apostles, martyrs, and all saints, and proceeds to curse the individual in every conceivable part of the body and circumstance of life, from head to foot, in action and in rest, until repentance.

## Themes in this chapter

### Modesty and Obscenity

The curse's explicit enumeration of bodily functions and private parts (e.g., 'mingendo, cacando, flebotomando', 'in genitalibus') transgresses conventional decorum, highlighting the absurdity and grotesque detail of the ecclesiastical formula.

### The Absurdity of Systems

The exhaustive, systematic cataloging of body parts and activities in the curse parodies the over-systematization of religious and legal language, a hallmark of Sterne's critique of rigid systems.

## Character check-ins

### Ernulphus

The author of the excommunication text, Bishop of Rochester, whose curse is reproduced in full.

## Key lines

> Excommunicamus, et anathematizamus hunc furem, vel hunc malefactorem, N. N. et a liminibus sanctæ Dei ecclesiæ sequestramus, et æternis suppliciis excruciandus, mancipetur, cum Dathan et Abiram, et cum his qui dixerunt Domino Deo, Recede à nobis, scientiam viarum tuarum nolumus: et sicut aquâ ignis extinguitur, sic extinguatur lucerna ejus in secula seculorum nisi resipuerit, et ad satisfactionem venerit. Amen.

We excommunicate and anathematize this thief or malefactor, N. N., and cut him off from the thresholds of holy Church, and consign him to eternal torments, with Dathan and Abiram, and with those who said to the Lord God, 'Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of your ways'; and as water extinguishes fire, so let his light be extinguished forever, unless he repents and makes satisfaction. Amen.

_The core excommunication formula, invoking biblical figures and threatening eternal punishment unless the sinner repents._

> Maledictus sit in capillis; maledictus sit in cerebro. Maledictus sit in vertice, in temporibus, in fronte, in auriculis, in superciliis, in oculis, in genis, in maxillis, in naribus, in dentibus, mordacibus, sive molaribus, in labiis, in guttere, in humeris, in harnis, in brachiis, in manubus, in digitis, in pectore, in corde, et in omnibus interioribus stomacho tenus, in renibus, in inguinibus, in femore, in genitalibus, in coxis, in genubus, in cruribus, in pedibus, et in inguibus.

Cursed be he in his hair; cursed be he in his brain. Cursed be he in his crown, in his temples, in his forehead, in his ears, in his eyebrows, in his eyes, in his cheeks, in his jaws, in his nostrils, in his teeth, both incisors and molars, in his lips, in his throat, in his shoulders, in his arms, in his hands, in his fingers, in his chest, in his heart, and in all his internal organs down to the stomach, in his kidneys, in his groin, in his thigh, in his genitals, in his hips, in his knees, in his shins, in his feet, and in his nails.

_A detailed anatomical curse, covering the entire body from head to foot, emphasizing the thoroughness of the malediction._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tristram_shandy_se/chapters/xi-excommunicatio
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tristram_shandy_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/tristram_shandy_se/chapters