Why Do Priests Wear Stoles?

Part 16: Signs of Christ

Wearing my stole as we lay hands on a new priest at their ordination

The Rule of Life Series | Part 16

…What else are we to understand the vestments of the priest to be except good works? The prophet himself attests to this when he says: “Let your priests be clothed with righteousness.” (Psalm 131:9) - St Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule, II.4

In the recent priestly ordination of my two dear friends, Fr. Joash P. Thomas and Christin Woods, I was tasked with “vesting” them in the immediate aftermath of their ordination vows and laying on of hands. It was a great honour to dress them in their priestly robes as they knelt at the altar.

Vesting Christin+ in her priestly robes

In the moment, which reminded me of my own ordination, I was struck by how obviously sacramental this was. So “obvious” it hadn’t entirely occurred to me this way before! All sacraments combine the spiritual and the physical, the sign and the symbol. Communion needs bread and wine; Baptism, water; Marriage, rings; and Ordination, the laying on of hands. Yet it occurred to me as I placed a chasuble over my friends that the visible change is sacramental too. The bread is broken, the water is poured, and the newly ordained stand in vestments that show the deeper participation in Christ’s mysteries by hiding the priest. My friend, Paul Paino†, who has mentored me through many priestly things, says this:

When a bishop, priest, or deacon is vested, each part speaks to an aspect of Christ’s self-giving life. Their beauty is not for vanity but for witness. They do not merely symbolize Christ’s ministries; they declare that he is among us as one who serves.¹

In my local church context the vestment I wear the most is the stole. For those of us coming from charismatic or evangelical backgrounds, we’ve often only seen stoles in ordination settings. We prefer to have our pastors look like the rest of us during a service. I understand why this is, we have often mistakenly assumed that wearing a stole or other clergy clothing is a sign of ego or elevated status. The intention is precisely the opposite.

The stole is, essentially, a long scarf that hangs around the neck of the priest. Often matched with the colour of the liturgical season, the priest stole is designed to be reminiscent of the yoke that working oxen wear. It symbolizes not ego, but that the priest is yoked to the table — they have vowed to serve Christ and his people through a eucharistic ministry. Deacons wear a diagonal stole that recalls how Jesus wrapped a towel around himself to serve his disciples in John 13.

Stoles remind us that our clergy have vowed to serve the church. That their lives are not their own but given to us and Christ in service. But the stole also reminds us of the church’s call to be priests and servants to the world.² The clergy vestments are a visible reminder of our ministries as Christians. Chris Green says it helpfully:

Vestments serve as a kind of visual catechesis—much like icons or stained glass. They speak truth about who we are as God’s people and how we are to live. When clergy vest, they body forth the relationship between the church’s story and the promises of God.³

As a priest, I truly love the moment when I put on my stole to serve the church. It reminds me of my ordination vows, my promise to live my life on the behalf of Christ and the Church. My prayer is that my stole also reminds those I serve that this cannot be about me, but all about Jesus. I appreciate the way this Roman Catholic writer describes it:

…the priest’s body is “hidden” in a way that takes him away as the center of the liturgical action and recognizes the true source and summit of the celebration, Jesus Christ. The priest thus dons the vestments not in his own name but rather in persona Christi.⁴

I doubt very much that I’ve ever been considered “cool” or “on brand”, but I’ve still generally thought carefully about what I wear when I turn up in church. Which is why I’ve come to love the vestments of the church. Rather than dressing in a way that represents some, likely failed, attempt to be on trend, vestments call the priest to dress in a way that reminds of Christ. Which may not be trendy, but is probably eternal, and definitely better. As Chris Green said to me once, the real nervousness we should have about pastors attempting to be cool is not that they might look bad, but that they might look good. In doing so we draw attention to ourselves and not Christ.

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The Developing Rule of Life Series

1. You Already Have a Rule of Life
2. The Gospel and the Ordered Life
3. Obedience as Formation
4. Obedience as God’s Workshop
5. Ballagàrraidh and the Need for Prayer
6. Theology as Prayer
7. The Spirit and the Ordered
8. Stabilitas and Jeremiah 29:11
9. All My Troubles are Jesus’s too
10. Where What is Holy Happens
11. I’m Never Gonna Break That Vow
12. Christ in the Neighbourhood of Chaos
13. Exceedingly, Great Quiet
14. Simply Christian
15. On Flourishing

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1. Paul Paino, A Customary for the use of Clericals & Vestments, Diocese of St Anthony, p.5.

2. I first encountered this idea in Rosalind Brown, Being a Deacon Today: Exploring a Distinctive Ministry in the Church and in the World, p. 75.

3. Chris E. W. Green, “The Work of the Vestments: Learning to Wear Christ”, in Paul Paino, A Customary for the use of Clericals & Vestments, Diocese of St Anthony, p.20.

4. The language of the quote reflects the Roman Catholic tradition of only ordaining men, but the meaning is a valid statement about all priests. You can read the piece here.