Article by Harriet Philips Bronson on the principles and history of ecclesiastical embroidery, from early Christian work through the English "Opus Anglicum" Great Period (12th-15th centuries) and its decline, to the late nineteenth-century revival. It discusses the Ascoli and Syon copes, Spanish padded work, the qualities needed in a church designer, materials such as gold thread, damask, velvet and brocatelle, and the Roman sequence of liturgical colors. Illustrations show a medieval chasuble from South Kensington Museum, a banner for the Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi, a burse with a pelican in gold thread, and a modern cope.