Second Anointing - History

History

Although Joseph Smith, Jr. introduced the Nauvoo Endowment in 1842, he came to understand that his work in establishing the "fullness of the priesthood" was not yet complete. In August 1843, church leader Brigham Young stated that "f any in the Church had the fullness of the priesthood, he did not know it", nevertheless, Young understood that the "fullness of the priesthood" involved an anointing as "king and priest", with the actual kingdom to be given later.

The initial second anointing took place on September 28, 1843, when Joseph and his wife Emma Smith received it. During Smith's lifetime, the second anointing was given to at least 20 men and 17 women (Buerger 1983, pp. 22–23). After Smith was murdered by a mob in June 1844, Brigham Young was eventually selected as prophet of the LDS Church, and in January 1846, he began administering the second anointing in the nearly-completed Nauvoo Temple. Young re-administered the ordinance to many of those who had received it under Joseph Smith, and he delegated his authority to others, who performed nearly 600 second anointings (some to polygamous unions) before the temple was closed on February 7, 1846 (Buerger 1983, p. 26).

After migration to Utah, the LDS Church did not conduct further second anointings until late 1866. Beginning in the 1870s, second anointings were performed vicariously (Buerger 1983, p. 30). In the 1880s, then President of the Church John Taylor was concerned that too many second anointings were being performed, and he instituted a series of procedural safeguards, requiring recommendation by a stake president, and a guideline that the ordinance "belonged particularly to old men" (Buerger 1983, pp. 32–33). In 1901, President Lorenzo Snow further limited accessibility to the ordinance by outlining stringent criteria for worthiness (Buerger 1983, pp. 33–34).

By 1918, over 14,000 second anointings had been performed for the living and the dead. (Buerger 1983, p. 39). During the administration of Heber J. Grant in the 1920s, however, the frequency of second anointings was dramatically reduced. Stake presidents were no longer allowed to recommend candidates for the ordinance, that privilege falling only to members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles (Buerger 1983, pp. 39–40). By 1941, just under 15,000 second anointings had been performed for the living, and just over 6,000 for the dead (Buerger 1983, p. 41). The church has not allowed historians to have access to second anointing records subsequent to 1941; therefore, the current frequency of anointings is obscure. However, it is known that in 1942, 13 of the church's 32 General Authorities had not received the second anointing (Buerger 1983, p. 41). By 1949, the practice had been comparatively "practically discontinued" by the LDS Church, though in 1981 it continued "to be performed--albeit on a small scale".