CatholicReference.net

By the very fact. In the very nature of the thing. Ecclesiastical law applies the term to excommunications that take effect the moment a person commits some crime, e.g., the public denial of a revealed dogma; to certain rights or privileges that a person acquires on being ordained or entrusted with a duty or elected to office; to a variety of consequences that follow by the fact that some person, place, or object is consecrated or set aside for sacred use.