STOLE
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STOLE
- ween her love for him and her Evangehcal beUef.
in 1802 she also joined the Catholic Church; how- iver, new mental struggles followed, and finally she returned to Protestantism.
GothaucheT gentalogischer Hofkalender, a. v.; Allgme. deutsche Biog.. 3. V.
Klemens Loffler.
stole, a liturgical vestment composed of a strip )f material from two to four inches wide and about iighty inches long. It has either a uniform width throughout, or is somewhat narrower towards the niddle, widening at the ends in the shape of a trapezium or spade. A small cross is generally sewed or e m- broidered on the stole at both ends and in the middle; the cross, however, is pre- scribed only for the middle, where the priest kisses the stole before putting it on. There are no express precepts concerning the material of the stole, but silk, or at least a half- silk fabric, is most appropri- ate. Stoles for festivals are gen- e r a 1 1 y orna- mented with embroidery, es- pecially what are called " vesper stoles".
Present Use. — The stole is worn only by deacons, priests, and bishops. For deacons and priests it is the specific mark of office, being the badge of the d i a c o n a 1 and priestly orders. rhe wrongful use of the stole by subdeacons, therefore, w'ould imply the usurpation of a higher jrder, and would constitute an irregularity. Dea-
- ons wear the stole like a sash, the vestment
resting on the left shoulder and thence passing icross the breast and back to the right side. rhe stole of the priest extends from the back of the leck across the shoulders to the breast, where the two halves either cross each other or fall down straight iccording as the stole is worn over the alb or the mrphce. The stole is worn by a bishop in the same nanner as a priest, except that it is never crossed 3n the breast, as a bishop wears the pectoral cross. As a mark of order the stole is used in a special ?eremony, at the ordination of deacons and priests. i\t the ordination of deacons the bishop places it on the left shoulder of the candidate, sajnng: "Receive from the hand of God the white garment and fulfil thy duty, for God is mighty enough to give thee His srace in rich measure." At the ordination of priests the bishop draws the part of the stole that rests at the back of the candidate's neck forward over the breast and lays the two ends crosswise, saying:
St. CnxHBEBT'a Tomb
"Receive the yoke of the Lord, for His yoke is sweet
and His burden is light." The Sacred Congregation
of Rites has given a large number of decisions con-
cerning the use of the stole. As a general rule it
may be stated: the stole is only used, and must be
used, at a function pecuUar to the deacon, priest, and
bishop, a function that presupposes the order (e. g.,
at the celebration of Mass, when the Blessed Sacra-
ment is touched, when the sacraments are adminis-
tered), but not for example, in processions or at
Vespers. The wearing of the stole by the bishop at
Solemn Vespers is an exception; its use by a priest
while preaching depends on local custom. The
stole is not a specific mark of parochial jurisdiction.
The use of the stole is also customary in the Ori- ental rites, in which, as in the West, it is one of the chief Uturgical vestments (Greek, lipdpiov, the dea- con's stole, and i-mrpaxi^iov, the priest's stole; Ar- menian, urar; Syrian and Chaldaic, uroro; Coptic, batrashil). According to present Oriental custom the stole is a strip of silk about seven or eight inches wide, having at the upper end a hole through which the head is inserted; it is either undivided (Syrian, Coptic, and Armenian custom) or opens down the front from the opening for the head (Greek custom). Among the Chaldeans (Nestorians) the stole of the priest resembles that used in the West, and is, like this, crossed over the breast. The deacon's stole generally hangs down straight from the left shoulder both in front and at the back, but in certain rites is first wound hke a sash around the breast and back. Among the Syrians and Chaldeans the sub- deacon also uses the stole, but he first twists it hke a scarf around the neck, the ends being then let hang from the left shoulder in front and behind.
History. — We possess few references to the stole anterior to the ninth centurj'. In the East, however, it is mentioned very early, the deacon's stole being frequently referred to even in the fourth and fifth centuries. The priest's stole is not mentioned in the East until the eighth centur>'. The stole is first mentioned in the West in the sixth and seventh cen- turies (Synod of Braga, 563; Fourth Council of Toledo, 633; Galhcan exTplanation of the Mass), but then as a thing which had long been in use. The earliest evidences of the use of the stole at Rome date from the second half of the eighth century and the beginning of the ninth. But in the ninth century, subdeacons and acolytes still wore both the planeta and the stole, although, to distinguish them from the deacons, priests, and bishops, there were defi- nite Hmitations to their use of the latter vestment. After the ninth century the stole is very frequently mentioned, and even then the manner of its use was essentially the same as to-day. In the ninth and tenth centuries in the Frankish Empire the priests were commanded to wear the stole constantly as a badge of their calling, especially when on a journey. In Spain and Gaul in the pre-Carlovingian period, the deacons wore the stole over the tunic like the Greeks; in Southern Italy this practice was continued until at least the thirteenth century; at Milan the stole is still worn over the dalmatic. The custom for the priests to wear the stole crossed in front of the breast at Mass was known as early as the Synod of Braga (675), but did not become general until the late Middle Ages.
Devbt^opment. — Very little is known concerning the nature of the stole in the pre-Carlovingian period. Origin.ally it was probably a cloth folded into the form of a baiid, and gradually developed into a simple band. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the stole was very long, and at the same time extremely narrow. It was customary, even in the ninth cen- tury, to ornament the ends with fringe, tassels, or little bells. Towards the thirteenth centiin,' the ends came to be trapezium-shaped; in the fourteenth century this
