What a Minister Wears for a Baptism or Confirmation, and the Stole That Goes With It
White for baptism almost everywhere, red or white for confirmation, and the colour of the day when either falls inside Mass: what the minister wears, and how to buy the stole as a gift.
On this page
On this page
For a baptism the minister wears white almost everywhere in the Western churches: in the Roman rite, the Church of England, the Episcopal Church, the Lutheran bodies and the United Methodist Church, a white stole is the normal answer. For a confirmation the answer is red or white, and which one depends on the tradition and, in the Roman rite, on the bishop. The qualification that catches people out is this: if the baptism or confirmation happens inside a Mass or a Sunday service, the colour of the day usually wins. A baptism at the 10 o’clock Mass on a Sunday in Ordinary Time is celebrated in green, not white.
This guide sets out what the minister wears in each case, what the white garment given to the child is, which motifs belong on a baptism stole or a confirmation stole, and how to buy one as a gift without getting the length or colour wrong.
Baptism in the Roman rite
Within Mass
When a child or an adult is baptised during Mass, the Mass is a ritual Mass, and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal deals with the colour in one sentence. GIRM 347 says that “Ritual Masses are celebrated in their proper color, in white, or in a festive color” (USCCB, GIRM chapter 6). In practice the ritual Mass may take the colour of the day or white, and on a Sunday of Ordinary Time most parishes stay in green. The priest wears alb, stole and chasuble as for any Mass (GIRM 336–337); a deacon assisting wears alb, stole and, where the parish has one, dalmatic (GIRM 338).
Outside Mass
Most infant baptisms are celebrated outside Mass, on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Here the minister wears an alb, or a surplice over a cassock, with a white stole. He may add a white cope over the alb and stole; the cope is optional, and the rite allows white or a festive colour. GIRM 341 assigns the cope to the priest “in processions and other sacred actions” as the rubrics direct, and baptism outside Mass is one of the actions where custom has long allowed it. A great many baptisms are celebrated in alb and white stole alone.
Deacon as minister
A deacon is an ordinary minister of baptism in the Roman rite, and it is common for the parish deacon to baptise, especially outside Mass. He wears an alb (or surplice over cassock) and a white deacon’s stole over the left shoulder, drawn across the chest to the right side (GIRM 340). He may wear a dalmatic over it within Mass, but outside Mass this is rare. The GIRM assigns the cope to the priest, and although the Ceremonial of Bishops allows a deacon a cope in some rites, most deacons baptise in alb and stole alone. The two ways of wearing the stole are compared in how to wear a stole, and the deacon’s vesture as a whole in what deacons wear.
At the Easter Vigil
The Vigil is the great night for baptism, and the colour is white throughout (gold is permitted as a festive colour). Adults from the catechumenate are baptised and confirmed here, and the celebrant wears the white chasuble of the Vigil Mass.
The white garment the child receives
After the water, the newly baptised is clothed in a white garment. The Roman Rite of Baptism for Children calls it the baptismal garment and presents it with words about being clothed in Christ. It may be a full christening gown, a small white bib or shawl laid over the child, or, for an adult, a white robe or scarf. The candle and the anointing follow, but only the garment concerns a vestment maker, and in one small way: families sometimes ask whether the child’s garment should match the minister’s stole. It need not. The child’s white is the sign of the sacrament received; the minister’s white is the colour of the rite. They are not a set.
Baptism in Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed practice
The Church of England’s Common Worship rules treat Christian initiation as a celebration of Christ, and white or gold is the colour given for it. The rules also say the colours are not mandatory, so a parish that baptises during the Sunday Eucharist will normally stay in the colour of the season. Outside the Eucharist, a Church of England priest baptises in surplice and white stole over cassock, or in alb and white stole in parishes of a more Catholic habit.
The Episcopal Church has no binding rubric on colour. Its glossary describes liturgical colours as changing “with the seasons of the church year” (Episcopal Church glossary), and white for baptism is near-universal by custom.
ELCA and LCMS Lutheran pastors baptise in alb and white stole, or, where the congregation keeps the older Lutheran custom, in black gown and white stole. Baptism within the Sunday service takes the colour of the day. United Methodist practice is the same: white for baptism, alb and stole being the usual vesture where the pastor wears vestments at all. Presbyterian and other Reformed ministers who baptise in the Geneva gown add a white stole if their congregation uses stoles; many do not. Why one congregation wears the gown and another the alb is set out in Geneva gown vs alb. Baptist and Pentecostal pastors baptise believers by immersion, in a robe or in waders, and do not wear a stole for it.
Confirmation: red or white, and who decides
Roman rite
The Rite of Confirmation provides for white or festive vestments, and the sacrament is normally conferred by the bishop, who chooses. Red is customary in many dioceses because red is the colour of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (GIRM 346b). White is equally lawful and is usual when the bishop confirms in Easter Time. Within a Sunday Mass, GIRM 347 applies as at baptism, so a confirmation on a Sunday of Ordinary Time may lawfully be in green, red or white. Bishops travel with their own vestments, so the useful gift on a confirmation day is more often a stole for the parish priest.
Church of England and Episcopal Church
Confirmation in the Church of England is part of Christian initiation and Common Worship gives white or gold; red is nevertheless common at confirmations by custom, because the bishop’s prayer at the laying on of hands invokes the Holy Spirit. The bishop’s own practice usually settles it. The Episcopal Church, with no binding rubric, follows the same pattern: red is common, white is also used, and within a Sunday Eucharist the colour of the day is often kept.
Lutheran and Methodist
In the ELCA and LCMS, confirmation is the affirmation of baptism, usually celebrated with a class of young people, and red is common; many congregations keep it on Pentecost or Reformation Sunday, both red days, which fixes the colour without a decision. In the United Methodist Church red for confirmation is likewise common custom, though in another season the colour of the day is often kept. A pastor without a red stole is a common gift case; where red is worn across the year is in when red vestments are worn.
Motifs for baptism and confirmation stoles
The motifs are settled and there is no need to invent. For baptism the first choice is the scallop shell with three drops of water falling from it, the three drops for the threefold pouring in the name of the Trinity. The dove appears at the baptism of Christ in all four Gospels and belongs on a baptism stole as much as on a Pentecost one. Stylised water along the stole is a plain, readable choice, and the Chi-Rho suits a stole that will also be worn on other white occasions. The Lamb of God recalls John the Baptist’s words at the Jordan, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), which makes it a baptismal emblem as well as a Eucharistic one.
For confirmation the motifs are those of the Holy Spirit: the descending dove, tongues of flame (Acts 2), or the two together, sometimes with seven flames for the seven gifts of the Spirit. These are the same motifs a Pentecost stole carries, so a red dove-and-flame stole does double duty across the year, which is why we recommend it over a stole embroidered with a date, which is worn once. Our red dove and flame stole is the pattern most often bought for a confirmation, and the white dove and rainbow baptism stole pairs the dove with the rainbow of the covenant after the flood, which 1 Peter 3:20–21 connects with baptism. A fuller account of each symbol is in the symbols on a clergy stole.
Buying a stole as a gift for the officiating minister
Godparents and parents do buy stoles for the minister who baptises their child, and confirmation classes for the pastor who prepared them. Three things decide whether the gift is useful.
Length
A stole is sized to the wearer’s height. One cut for a man of six foot two hangs too long on a woman of five foot four. Ask the parish secretary or the minister’s spouse for the height, or measure a stole he already wears from the centre back to the hem; the method is in clergy stole length.
The colour he or she lacks
A priest ordained a few years owns at least one white stole and one green. What he often lacks is a white stole that speaks of baptism, since the everyday white stole usually carries a Chi-Rho or IHS, or a red stole of decent quality. For a Methodist or Lutheran pastor, red is very often the missing colour. Ask someone who can look in the sacristy cupboard.
Timing
Made-to-measure work in our workroom takes 5–7 days in production, then 10–15 days in shipping to the US, Canada, UK and EU (12–20 days elsewhere). Order four to five weeks before the day. We send cloth swatches and a drawn proof before cutting, so a godparent who wants the child’s name and date stitched inside the lining can have it. Personalised pieces cannot be returned but are covered by our alteration promise if the length is wrong. The stoles suited to these occasions are gathered in the baptism and confirmation collection.
Colours at a glance
| Occasion | Roman Catholic | Church of England | Lutheran (ELCA/LCMS) | United Methodist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baptism outside Mass or service | White (alb or surplice, white stole, optional white cope) | White or gold; colours not mandatory | White | White |
| Baptism within Mass or Sunday service | Colour of the day, or white or festive (GIRM 347) | Usually colour of the season | Colour of the day | Colour of the day |
| Baptism at the Easter Vigil | White (gold permitted) | White or gold | White | White |
| Confirmation | White or festive by rubric; red common by custom; bishop decides | White or gold given; red common by custom | Red common (affirmation of baptism) | Red common by custom |
| Confirmation within a Sunday Mass or service | Colour of the day, white or festive | Colour of the season or red | Colour of the day or red | Colour of the day or red |
Common questions
What colour does a priest wear for a baptism?
White, when the baptism is celebrated on its own outside Mass: alb or surplice with a white stole, and optionally a white cope. When the baptism is within Mass, the Mass may be in the colour of the day or in white or a festive colour (GIRM 347), and most parishes keep the colour of the day.
Is confirmation red or white?
In the Roman rite the rubric gives white or festive vestments, and red is common by custom for the Holy Spirit; the bishop decides. In the Church of England white or gold is given and red is common in practice. In Lutheran and Methodist churches red is the usual custom, often because confirmation is kept on Pentecost or Reformation Sunday.
Can a deacon baptise and what does he wear?
Yes. A deacon is an ordinary minister of baptism in the Roman rite and in the Anglican churches. He wears an alb or surplice over cassock with a white deacon’s stole over the left shoulder, and may add a dalmatic within Mass. A cope is possible where the rite allows it, but alb and stole is the usual vesture.
Does the pastor need a cope for a baptism?
No. The white cope is optional in the Roman rite for baptism outside Mass and is not called for in Lutheran, Methodist or most Anglican practice. Alb and white stole are sufficient everywhere, and the baptism and confirmation stoles in the store are cut with that in mind.
What is the white garment at baptism?
It is the baptismal garment given to the newly baptised after the water, a christening gown, white shawl or bib for a child and a white robe or scarf for an adult, as a sign of being clothed in Christ. It is the candidate’s garment, not a vestment, and it does not need to match the minister’s stole.
Before the day
Check three things with the parish a month ahead: whether the baptism or confirmation is inside or outside the Mass or service, which colour the minister or bishop intends to wear, and the wearer’s height if a stole is to be given. Those three answers settle nearly every question on this page. If the answer to the second is red, the seasons and feasts on which that same stole will be worn again are laid out in when red vestments are worn, and the store’s red vestments are gathered in one place.
