Stole

The Stole (one of the liturgical vestments of various Christian denominations) is an embroidered band of cloth, formerly of silk and about three metres long and seven/eight cm wide. It originally was a kind of scarf, longer in length than in width, which covered the shoulders and fell down in front of the body. After it had been adopted by the church about the seventh century, the stole became gradually narrower and so richly ornamented that it developed into a mark of dignity. Nowadays, the stole is usually wider and made from a wide variety of material.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the stole is conferred at the ordination of a deacon and is the common vestment of the Holy Orders. The bishop wears the stole around his neck with the ends hanging down in front while the deacon places it over his left shoulder and lets it hang cross-wise at his right side. The priest used to cross it over his breast but now wears it like a bishop. Together with the cincture and the now defunct maniple, the stole symbolizes the bonds and fetters with which Jesus was bound during his Passion.

In the Eastern rites, the stole is known as the epitrachelion (when worn by a priest or bishop) and the orarion (when worn by a deacon or subdeacon). The priest's stole consists of a long strip of cloth, hung around the neck with the two strips sewn together. The protodeacon or archdeacon wears it over the left shoulder and crossed under the right, and the deacon wears it over the left shoulder with the two ends left hanging. The subdeacon wears his orarion over both shoulders, crossed in the back and the front.

Stole is also the past participle of the irregular English verb "steal".