Stoles

Purple signifies penance and preparation and is worn during Advent and Lent. Green stoles suggest hope and are worn during Ordinary Time, while white symbolizes purity and joy during Christmas and Easter seasons. Red, which evokes the Holy Spirit and the blood of martyrs, is worn on Pentecost and Palm Sunday, and rose on the Gaudete and Laetare Sundays to symbolize a brief moment of rejoicing partway through a penitential season.

R.J. Toomey stoles are machine-made from durable polyester fabrics, including jacquard and smooth-weave, with reinforced stitching and a satin backing built for years of liturgical use. The designs are applied in two ways: most are gold-embroidered, often with gold and silver metallic thread, while a few seasonal lines, like the Nativity and Lenten Story collections, use digitally printed images. Finishing varies by style but typically includes clean-finish seams, full lining, custom-dyed or gold fringe, gold lace trim or tassels, and a back or side cord that keeps the stole in place. Every R.J. Toomey stole is dry clean only.

Typically, a deacon wears the stole underneath the dalmatic, so that it hangs diagonally across the body, over the left shoulder and joined at the right hip. Because the stole sits beneath the dalmatic, it stays mostly hidden when the deacon is fully vested, and the diagonal drape is most visible when the deacon wears the alb and stole without it. Priest stoles are worn around the neck with both ends hanging straight down the front.

Standard overlay and deacon stoles come in a single length of 110", which fits most adult wearers, and our understole runs the same 110". Reconciliation and reversible stoles vary most in length, ranging from about 48" up to 92", with the shorter priest stoles made deliberately compact for hearing confession. If you're between the standard and a shorter style, check the listed length against your height before ordering, since the compact stoles run noticeably shorter than the 110" standard.

Yes. Reversible clergy stoles carry a different liturgical color on each side, so one garment can cover two seasons, and a set of four gives you one stole in each of the main liturgical colors. Reversible confession stoles most often pair purple and white, the two colors used for reconciliation.