> By means of ejaculations and prayers he stored up ungrudgingly for the souls in purgatory centuries of days and quarantines and years;

This is near the start of chapter four, read with a modern sensibility it sounds like Stephen has began to jerk it in repentance.

The first time I came across 'ejaculate' defined as 'something said quickly and suddenly' was in Zane Grey's 'Riders of the Purple Sage'. While a few cowboys were standing around, the story claimed one of them 'ejaculated' which sent me into a fit of hysterics for about ten minutes. After than I calmed down and looked up how it was meant to be understood. Now I have seen it used multiple times in different books that were mostly written over a century ago.