The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 plus 3 plus 6 letter word BELL BOOK AND CANDLE
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
B
E
L
L
B
O
O
K
A
N
D
C
A
N
D
L
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "signs of excommunication" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case signs of excommunication = bell book and candle.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.