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| | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Stole |
 | | It has either a uniform width throughout, or is somewhat narrower towards the middle, widening at the ends in the shape of a trapezium or spade. |
 | | A small cross is generally sewed or embroidered on the stole at both ends and in the middle; the cross, however, is prescribed only for the middle, where the priest kisses the stole before putting it on. |
 | | Towards the thirteenth century the ends came to be trapezium-shaped; in the fourteenth century this shape disappeared, and until the sixteenth century the stole was a strip of material of uniform width, and only ornamented with fringe at the ends. |
| www.newadvent.org /cathen/14301a.htm (1359 words) |
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