the Latin Rite, as well as in some Oriental (Orthodox) churches. For example, in the Syro-Malankara and Syriac Churches, priests do not wear leather or animal products in the altar, they wear the . Development of shape The sandals retained substantially their original form until the 10th century. Then straps were replaced by three or five tongues reaching to the ankle, extensions of the upper leather upon the point of the foot, and these were fastened at ankle by means of a string. In the 12th century these tongues were gradually shortened; in the 13th century, the sandal was a regular shoe with a slit above the foot or on the side to make the putting-on easier. In the 16th century there was a return to the earlier form of the sandal; instead of a high shoe it now became once more a low foot-covering, like a slipper, a form which it has retained until the present time. The material of which the pontifical sandals are made was, until the 13th century, exclusively leather, at times covered with silk. Since the later Middle Ages, the upper part of the sandals has been made, not of leather, but of silk, velvet, etc. It is not until about 1400, with the exception of entirely isolated earlier examples, that a cross is to be found upon the sandals. The fork-shaped decoration, frequently found on pontifical shoes, especially on those of the 13th century, was not a cross, but merely an ornament. History Sandals and stockings belong to the liturgical vestments supported by the evidence from the 5th and 6th centuries. Originally the sandals were called and the stockings . The shoes were given the name probably during the eighth to the 9th century, and this name was first applied to them in the North; the designation for came into use in the 10th century, also in the North. The original form and material of the was slippers that covered only the tip of the foot and the heel, and were likely fastened to the foot by straps. This slipper was made of black leather. The stockings were, very likely, made of linen, and were white in colour. In the earliest period the and were by no means exclusively an episcopal vestment, as they were worn by deacons. This foot-covering was not reserved exclusively for the clergy, as they were worn as a mark