The Probert Encyclopaedia of Costume

STOLE

A stole is a strip of silken material worn over both shoulders by priests and bishops, but over the left shoulder only by deacons, in their administrations. The council of Laodicea forbade the use of the stole to the inferior orders of the clergy. Symbolically it represents the yoke of Christ. The colour of the stole may be changed in harmony with the church's seasons.

The stole was later adopted as a rectangular, often fringed at the ends, cloth worn by women wrapped around the shoulders in a manner similar to a shawl.
Research Stole