Catholic Stole

Typing a keyword "stole" in the google search box, most of the results appear with the catholic-related piece of ritual costume worn by deacons, priests, and bishops.

Deacons wear the stole like a sash, the vestment resting on the left shoulder and thence passing across the breast and back to the right side.
The stole of the priest extends from the back of the neck across the shoulders to the breast, where the two halves either cross each other or fall down straight according as the stole is worn over the alb or the surplice.


The stole is worn by a bishop in the same manner as a priest, except that it is never crossed on the breast, as a bishop wears the pectoral cross.

Pope Benedict XVI receives a stole from an unidentified bishop as he arrives to the Palacio dos Bandeirantes in Sao Paulo, Thursday, May 10, 2007. The pontiff is in Brazil on his first trip to Latin America. by daylife.com

More information on history and origin at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14301a.htm