Vade retro satana

Common card · No. 275335

Vade retro satana (Ecclesiastical Latin for "Begone, Satan", "Step back, Satan", or "Back off, Satan"; alternatively spelt vade retro satanas, or sathanas), is a medieval Western Christian formula for exorcism, recorded in a 1415 manuscript found in the Benedictine Metten Abbey in Bavaria; its origin is traditionally associated with the Benedictines. The initials of this formula (VRSNSMV SMQLIVB or VRS:NSMV:SMQL:IVB) have often been engraved around crucifixes or the Saint Benedict Medals of Western Christianity since at least 1780. The phrase is also used allusively in literary contexts to depict rejection of possibly tempting, but undesirable, proposals; in such cases, it is generally used without any religious connotations.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Benedictines, Public domain