From a seminarian:
As a seminarian who will be ordained to the transitional diaconate here shortly, I was wondering if you or your readers could point me to a place to acquire reasonable, well made, appropriate appearing Deacon stoles. Most of the parishes in my diocese where I could be sent for assignment lack these, and I would like to buy a set of my own which I could then allow another deacon to use or give to another seminarian who would be a transitional deacon later.
First, I would consider getting priestly preaching stoles which you could with a pair of connected clips use to the ends at your side. If you are going to be a transitional deacon, why load up with lots of diaconal things?
That said, readers?
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Ditto. Alligator clips are your friend, brother seminarian!
It’s a good question. I wonder if there should be a DeaconzRUz website, where the vestments might be passed on?
Why not load up on diaconal things? They can still be used in solemn celebrations of the EF, can they not?
DO NOT BUY ANY DEACON STOLES.
Father dear:
You will only be a deacon briefly. Just use any stole that’s part of a dalmatic set or a chasuble set, and either tuck it in the right side of your cincture, or pin it or take 2 “alligator clips” fastened by a small chain, this way it can be removed easily. The same for those who come after you.
It is a silly investment for you to make, and quite honestly, the current “deacon stoles” currently manufactured are not part of our liturgical tradition (with an artificial “bend” so they lay flat, which has never really existed before).
Good luck, Father Deacon.
JBD
To the OP’s original question, a great place for well-made stoles is:
http://www.holyroodguild.com/xcart2/Stoles/
If you want, pass the Diaconal stole onto a junior seminarian friend, have your name embroidered on it, and make it a sort of perpetual gift. The rising transitional deacon-candidate gets it as a gift from you, but he has to promise to pass it on to another worthy classmate when he is ordained a priest. It would be a neat way to get the stole’s money’s worth.
I say, patronize the groups like Holy Rood Guild for making beautiful works of art. Otherwise, all that will be left is the cheap stuff.
Holy Rood Guild is WAY overpriced for the quality of the fabrics used in their products. That being said, when I was a transitional deacon I bought priest stoles from them (not realizing that I was paying WAY too much). They were kind enough to put a chain at the bottom and, when I was ordained a priest, they removed the chain and returned it to being a preaching/occasional/concelebration/broad stole. My advice to this seminarian would echo that of Fr. Z and others. Find nice preaching stoles that you like and then affix a chain to the bottom for the time that you’ll serve as a transitional deacon.
I tend to agree with Daniel_Nekic; you could buy dalmatics as well. An alternative would be to buy diaconal things and then sell them to a permanent deacon.
A good place to buy dalmatic and stole sets is here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/260997672470?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
A good place to just get stoles if you are near Milwaukee is to go to Stempers. They will loan out two reversible deacon stoles to any transitional deacon for free, at least they used to.
I would recommend getting the dalmatic set. It is not so very expensive, but also with so many parishes not having anything for deacons, you would be doing your part to help fix that situation, whether you leave the set at a parish or take it with you to your next parish or sell it to a deacon.
@basilorat – “You will only be a deacon briefly”? No, he will be a deacon for all eternity; it’s just that his priestly role will take precedence after a brief period!
http://www.chasubles.eu/category/en/for-deacons-
Good prices, quality, and service (at least in Europe…).
If you are going to be a deacon for awhile before your priestly ordination, you may as well get some diaconal stoles. I received two very beautiful reversible stoles (Harbro Reversible Deacon Stole Style 511) as gifts that I have kept as a reminder for when I first received the Sacrament of Holy Orders. One of them is violet and green and the other is red and white. I found them online for $90 each, which is not much considering how much you might be using them. Without the chalice design, they are only $65 each. And of course, if you feel inclined, you can always pass them along as gifts as a future point in time.