Vade Retro Satana

Vade retro satana ("Go back, Satan" or "Step back, Satan") is a Medieval Catholic formula for exorcism, recorded in a 1415 manuscript found in the Benedictine Metten Abbey in Bavaria and its origin is traditionally associated with the Benedictines.

In current Catholic tradition, the formula (sometimes reduced to the vade retro verse) is used to repel any possible evil thing or happening, as a "spoken amulet". The initials of this formula (VRSNSMV SMQLIVB or VRS:NSMV:SMQL:IVB) have often been engraved around crucifixes or Catholic Saint Benedict Medals at least since 1780.

The phrase vade retro satana (often spelled vade retro satanas, or sathanas) is also used as a witty or scholarly prose device, dissociated from its religious implications, to express strong rejection of an unacceptable (but possibly tempting) proposal, or dread of some looming menace. Namely, in the sense of "do not tempt me!", "I will have nothing to do with that", "will someone deliver us from that", and so on.