At their most basic level, liturgical vestments and textiles serve to differentiate the sacred and the profane, the clergy and the laity. Not only are they sacred objects in their own right, being consecrated to a holy use, but they point beyond themselves to historical parallels - to events in the life of Christ or to the furnishings of the Jerusalem Temple - or to anagogical symbolism of the heavenly graces.
Medieval textiles as fabric, form, and metaphor