A chasuble is the principal church vestment worn by a priest at the celebration of the Christian mass. It was usually made of rich materials (silks) and adorned with orphrey bands, embroidered with images of particular symbolic significance in Christianity. Different colours were used for different seasons in the Christian calendar, black being appropriate for funerals or requiem masses. This chasuble was recycled from a pall, a cloth used to cover a coffin. The embroidery dates to the early 16th century, while the style of the vestment dates to after 1600. The initials RJ on the back are those of the person for whose coffin the cloth was originally made (Robert Thornton, Abbot of Jervaulx).
The velvet was probably made in Italy or Spain, then the major velvet-weaving centres in Europe, and provided an ideal foil for rich embroidery which might be executed at home or abroad.