Apologies if this is not the best thread, but I have a question about stoles that I'm hoping a learned Anglican can respond to.
I'm making a set of stoles as a gift for a dear friend who is soon to become a bishop. I have it on the authority of a retired bishop that red and white are most used, but I'm planning on providing purple and green too.
Are there any conventions/ traditions/ strict no-nos for stoles for an Anglican bishop?
Bishops tend to get wheeled out for special occasions such as ordinations, confirmations, patronal festivals etc which is why white or red are most common. More often than not when visiting a parish, they will wear a stole and/or chasuble supplied by that church
A stole is a symbol of priestly office, hence a bishop's stole should be no different from that of an ordinary priest. The only two distinctive features of episcopal vesture AFAIK are the mitre and the pectoral cross. If a bishop is presiding at the eucharist s/he would wear the colour of the day, and in many places would cover the stole with a chasuble so its design would be less important.
So as Spike has suggested, white and red stoles for a bishop would probably be most appreciated as they might be used when s/he were wearing a cope (eg for confirmations and other ceremonies). In simpler church contexts they might preside at the eucharist wearing just alb and stole and hence all colours would be useful.
I'm making a set of stoles as a gift for a dear friend who is soon to become a bishop. I have it on the authority of a retired bishop that red and white are most used, but I'm planning on providing purple and green too.
Are there any conventions/ traditions/ strict no-nos for stoles for an Anglican bishop?
I wonder if you might get the most useful answers from Anglicans in Australia. How Things Are Done there might be different, even if only subtly, from England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the US or elsewhere.
I'm making a set of stoles as a gift for a dear friend who is soon to become a bishop. I have it on the authority of a retired bishop that red and white are most used, but I'm planning on providing purple and green too.
Are there any conventions/ traditions/ strict no-nos for stoles for an Anglican bishop?
I wonder if you might get the most useful answers from Anglicans in Australia. How Things Are Done there might be different, even if only subtly, from England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the US or elsewhere.
Not to mention drastically different depending on how affected by Sydney's influence.
I'm making a set of stoles as a gift for a dear friend who is soon to become a bishop. I have it on the authority of a retired bishop that red and white are most used, but I'm planning on providing purple and green too.
Are there any conventions/ traditions/ strict no-nos for stoles for an Anglican bishop?
I wonder if you might get the most useful answers from Anglicans in Australia. How Things Are Done there might be different, even if only subtly, from England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the US or elsewhere.
Not to mention drastically different depending on how affected by Sydney's influence.
I'm making a set of stoles as a gift for a dear friend who is soon to become a bishop. I have it on the authority of a retired bishop that red and white are most used, but I'm planning on providing purple and green too.
Are there any conventions/ traditions/ strict no-nos for stoles for an Anglican bishop?
I wonder if you might get the most useful answers from Anglicans in Australia. How Things Are Done there might be different, even if only subtly, from England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the US or elsewhere.
I've only ever seen red and white normally, but a couple of times deep purple for a funeral. I can't remember ever seeing green, though. I'd suggest ringing the diocesan office and having a chat.
Our bishops [Newcastle Diocese] tend to wear the liturgical colours. They travel with alb, crozier and mitre and don the chasuble and stole from the parish. While red and white would be commonplace for cathedral services such as ordinations or parish confirmations, pastoral visits at other times would see green or purple according to season.
On 13.01.25 the day after the end of the Christmas season Salzburg cathedral saw the funeral of one of its retired auxiliary bishops.
The present Auxiliary Bishop of Salzburg welcomed the guests and must have taken about 10 minutes just to go through the list of specially invited guests
The deceased bishop was a fairly conservative figure and his funeral celebration was an amazing spectacle, with over 50 priests and bishops concelebrating the Mass. There was a profusion of black Roman chasubles -one wonders how the cathedral sacristy managed to have so many of them.
At the request of the deceased Mozart's Requiem was performed liturgically with the cathedral's retired Kapellmeister brought back to oversee the music.
In a simpler and poignant moment towards the end of the ceremony the choir sang in English 'Nearer my God to Thee'
Again at the request of the deceased the homily was given by the Cardinal Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest.
Even if one does not understand German one can still have a sense of the occasion by looking at some of the service on youtube.
www.youtube.com 13.01.25 Requiem fuer Weihbischof em.Dr Andreas Laun
At the risk of repeating what I said in the immediately preceding post the Austrian Catholic Church saw a second leave taking this same week - namely the retiral of Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn,after 30 years as Archbishop of Vienna.
The only tat I can mention here was the profusion of lime green Gothic chasubles along with hundreds of lime green priestly and diaconal stoles. About 8000 people had gathered to pay tribute to the Cardinal not only in St Stephan's cathedral but an overflow in the nearby Jesuit and also Dominican churches.
Significant was the cardinal's wish to start the ceremony by a common baptismal reminder with the cardinal flanked by representatives of the Greek Orthodox, Armenian and other Eastern Christian churches, plus the local 'evangelische' Lutheran ,Calvinist ,Old Catholic and modern evangelical groups.
The cardinal's sermon was devoted to some words in the text of that day's Gospel,the calling of Levi the tax collector. He said that since the age of 10 he had taken to heart the words of Jesus to Levi 'Come,follow me'.
At the end of the ceremony there was a speech by the Austrian Federal President (himself 'evangelisch' )who praised the cardinal highly as a bridge builder both within the Catholic Church as also amongst the various religious confessions present in Austria,not only Christian but the other Abrahamic faiths. He also reminded people of the cardinal's work with and for refugees, mindful of the fact that the cardinal himself was a refugee from the post WW2 expulsion of German speakers from the then Czechoslovakia.
At the end of the Mass there was a blessing of the cardinal by many members of the Christian communities in Vienna,not only Catholic but others.
It was a fitting tribute to the man whom the President called 'Pontifex austriacus'
Forthview, Thanks for your report. Vienna generally would rank high in our listing of European cities, and after identifying ourselves, we've always received a real welcoming in St Stephen's.
I’m now on the hunt for a sewing pattern for a chasuble with a cowl collar as my sister, is an Anglican priest, wants an Ordinary Time replacement for the one she has now.
Does anyone know someone who can help (other than a very expensive site that charges so much for the pattern that I could buy all the fabric for less). Unfortunately I can’t take her old one to pull apart as a pattern and am not so accomplished a seamstress that I can draft it myself.
Is the US old enough to be able to claim historic tat? I mean by non-US standards, because Lord knows one's vehicle here only need be 20 years old to qualify for an "Antique" license plate.
Somewhat surprisingly, Samuel Seabury's mitre exists. Surprising both that it still exists, and that Seabury possessed or wore a mitre at all!
He may have owned ( the quite fancily decorated) mitre, doesn't mean he wore it. I believe some Episcopal bishops had mitres carried before them, rather like maces etc. as a symbol of their authority, but did not don them.
The Church of Scotland had bishops nominated by the monarch until 1689.
Archbishop Sharp(e) of St Andrews was murdered by other Presbyterians and there is an
elaborate monument to his memory in the Presbyterian parish church of the Holy Trinity in St Andrews. Part of this monument features a bishop's mitre. It is virtually certain that the archbishop would never have worn this (or any other pontifical vestment) but it was there as an indication of his rank.
It is a bit like the pallium which features in the coat of arms of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, even although these archbishops will not have received the pallium since the Reformation.
Comments
I'm making a set of stoles as a gift for a dear friend who is soon to become a bishop. I have it on the authority of a retired bishop that red and white are most used, but I'm planning on providing purple and green too.
Are there any conventions/ traditions/ strict no-nos for stoles for an Anglican bishop?
So as Spike has suggested, white and red stoles for a bishop would probably be most appreciated as they might be used when s/he were wearing a cope (eg for confirmations and other ceremonies). In simpler church contexts they might preside at the eucharist wearing just alb and stole and hence all colours would be useful.
Perhaps @Gee D will have some thoughts?
Not to mention drastically different depending on how affected by Sydney's influence.
I've only ever seen red and white normally, but a couple of times deep purple for a funeral. I can't remember ever seeing green, though. I'd suggest ringing the diocesan office and having a chat.
This guide focuses on flags flown on/outside of a church, not flags displayed inside.
The present Auxiliary Bishop of Salzburg welcomed the guests and must have taken about 10 minutes just to go through the list of specially invited guests
The deceased bishop was a fairly conservative figure and his funeral celebration was an amazing spectacle, with over 50 priests and bishops concelebrating the Mass. There was a profusion of black Roman chasubles -one wonders how the cathedral sacristy managed to have so many of them.
At the request of the deceased Mozart's Requiem was performed liturgically with the cathedral's retired Kapellmeister brought back to oversee the music.
In a simpler and poignant moment towards the end of the ceremony the choir sang in English 'Nearer my God to Thee'
Again at the request of the deceased the homily was given by the Cardinal Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest.
Even if one does not understand German one can still have a sense of the occasion by looking at some of the service on youtube.
www.youtube.com 13.01.25 Requiem fuer Weihbischof em.Dr Andreas Laun
The only tat I can mention here was the profusion of lime green Gothic chasubles along with hundreds of lime green priestly and diaconal stoles. About 8000 people had gathered to pay tribute to the Cardinal not only in St Stephan's cathedral but an overflow in the nearby Jesuit and also Dominican churches.
Significant was the cardinal's wish to start the ceremony by a common baptismal reminder with the cardinal flanked by representatives of the Greek Orthodox, Armenian and other Eastern Christian churches, plus the local 'evangelische' Lutheran ,Calvinist ,Old Catholic and modern evangelical groups.
The cardinal's sermon was devoted to some words in the text of that day's Gospel,the calling of Levi the tax collector. He said that since the age of 10 he had taken to heart the words of Jesus to Levi 'Come,follow me'.
At the end of the ceremony there was a speech by the Austrian Federal President (himself 'evangelisch' )who praised the cardinal highly as a bridge builder both within the Catholic Church as also amongst the various religious confessions present in Austria,not only Christian but the other Abrahamic faiths. He also reminded people of the cardinal's work with and for refugees, mindful of the fact that the cardinal himself was a refugee from the post WW2 expulsion of German speakers from the then Czechoslovakia.
At the end of the Mass there was a blessing of the cardinal by many members of the Christian communities in Vienna,not only Catholic but others.
It was a fitting tribute to the man whom the President called 'Pontifex austriacus'
Does anyone know someone who can help (other than a very expensive site that charges so much for the pattern that I could buy all the fabric for less). Unfortunately I can’t take her old one to pull apart as a pattern and am not so accomplished a seamstress that I can draft it myself.
Somewhat surprisingly, Samuel Seabury's mitre exists. Surprising both that it still exists, and that Seabury possessed or wore a mitre at all!
https://livingchurch.org/news/saving-samuel-seaburys-miter/
Archbishop Sharp(e) of St Andrews was murdered by other Presbyterians and there is an
elaborate monument to his memory in the Presbyterian parish church of the Holy Trinity in St Andrews. Part of this monument features a bishop's mitre. It is virtually certain that the archbishop would never have worn this (or any other pontifical vestment) but it was there as an indication of his rank.
It is a bit like the pallium which features in the coat of arms of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, even although these archbishops will not have received the pallium since the Reformation.