The stole is a narrow strip of embroidered work, nine or ten feet long and two or three inches wide. In its original form it was of the same width throughout; but about the thirteenth or fourteenth century we find its ends terminating in a rectangular compartment, giving each the appearance of a tau cross. This was in order to secure extra room for the cross with which every stole was supposed to be marked at the end. For the same purpose the modern stole expands gradually from the middle point, where also a cross is embroidered.
Priests wear the stole between the alb and chasuble, crossed over the breast, and secured in that position by the girdle of the alb—nowadays only when officiating at mass, formerly on all occasions on which the stole was worn. Deacons generally secure it over the left shoulder and under the right arm, thereby approximating the disposition of the vestment to that of the ancient Roman ornament from which the vestment takes its origin. Bishops wear the stole between the alb and tunicle[52] pendent perpendicularly on either side of the breast; the pectoral cross which they wear is supposed to supply the place of the crossed stole.
The embroidery and material of the stole were supposed to tally with that of the alb, with which it was worn. The same rule applies to the maniple, and we commonly find in inventories that the three vestments are catalogued together. But if we can trust the evidence of brasses and other monuments, the vestments of different suits were worn together in a very haphazard manner, and it does not seem possible to extract any definite rule as to the collocation of different vestments embroidered with different patterns of orphreys.
The ends of the stole—below the embroidered cross when such existed—terminated in a fringe; and it was not uncommon in earlier years for little bells to be included in this fringe. Thus we have:
- 'Una stola cum frixio Anglicano cum perlis albis et endicis et campanellis.'—Inv. Vest. Papae Bonif. VIII, cit. ap. Rock, 'Church of our Fathers.'
The stole is said to signify 'the easy yoke of Christ.' Authorities earlier than the twelfth century are agreed on this point, though they differ on some minor details in the subordinate symbolism of its length, disposition, etc. But Honorius of Autun asserts that it signifies 'innocence,' and makes some vague and, to the present writer, unintelligible allusions to Esau's sale of his birthright; while Innocent III, with a faint reminiscence of the earlier exegesis, declares it to signify the servitude which Christ underwent for the salvation of mankind—referring to Phil. ii 5-8.
V. The Maniple.—The history of the development of the maniple follows closely on that of the stole. With a very few exceptions, the maniple, as represented on mediaeval monuments, differs from the stole, with which it is associated, in size alone.[53]
Fig. 7.—Archbishop Stigand. (From the Bayeux tapestry, showing maniple carried over fingers.)
The maniple was originally worn over the fingers of the left hand. This arrangement was most inconvenient, as it was constantly liable to slip off, and the fingers had to be held in a constrained attitude throughout the service. It was early found more comfortable and convenient to place the vestment over the left wrist; but no definite rule seems to have been formulated, and, indeed, in some parts of France the earlier custom seems to have survived till the middle of the eighteenth century. When placed on the wrist it was either buttoned or sewn so as to form a permanent loop, so that it should not slip off the arm.