From the liturgical writer Amalarius of Metz in the 9th century to the theologian Durandus of Saint-Pourçain in the 13th–14th century, sacerdotal vestments, in particular the stole and the chasuble, were viewed as symbols and indeed operated as such in a way that still influences current usage. Thus, because the stole is a yoke around the neck of the priest and he should rejoice in his servitude, on donning or doffing it he kisses the emblem of his servile status.
