I shall curse you with book and bell and candle.

The phrase invokes the medieval formula for solemn ecclesiastical excommunication—often popularly summarized as being cursed “with bell, book, and candle,” referring to the ritual implements used in the church’s public sentence of anathema. In that sense, the speaker is not merely threatening personal anger but calling down the most formal, socially devastating kind of religious condemnation available in a Christian society, implying exclusion from the community and from sacramental life. Even when used rhetorically, it signals a heightened register of authority and finality: a curse backed by institutional power, not just private malice.