Anointed Quorum
Encyclopedia
The Anointed Quorum, also known as the Quorum of the Anointed, or the Holy Order, was a select body of men and women who Joseph Smith, Jr. initiated into Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

 temple ordinances at Nauvoo
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...

, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, which gave them special standing in the early Latter Day Saint movement
Latter Day Saint movement
The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...

. Beginning in May 1842, Smith gave this group, which ultimately numbered over sixty persons, their washings and anointings
Washing and anointing
The washing and anointing is a temple ordinance of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that pertains to exaltation within the Celestial Kingdom. Combined, the two ordinances are known as the initiatory, which is performed for both the living and the dead.-History:Ritual anointings were...

 and endowments
Endowment (Mormonism)
In Mormonism, the endowment is an ordinance designed to prepare participants to become kings, queens, priests, and priestesses in the afterlife. As part of the ceremony, participants take part in a scripted reenactment of the Biblical creation and fall of Adam and Eve...

 in the upper floor of his Red Brick Store
Red Brick Store
The Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, Illinois, was a building that was constructed and owned by Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Original building:...

 on Water Street, as well as in a few private residences in the city. Most couples, but not all, also received their Second Anointing
Second Anointing
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the second anointing, also known historically and in Latter Day Saint scripture as the fulness of the priesthood, is an obscure and relatively rare ordinance usually conducted in temples as extension of the Nauvoo Endowment ceremony. Founder Joseph Smith, Jr...

. Members typically referred to their meetings, which were held usually every two weeks, as Prayer Circle
Prayer circle
Prayer circles have several different interpretations across Christianity and other religions. The most common definition of a prayer circle is where participants simply join hands in a literal circle of prayer, often as part of a vigil...

s, because prayer played an important role in the group's religious activities.

Nearly all members of the Anointed Quorum were important leaders and their wives in the church or community, including the First Presidency
First Presidency
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency was the highest governing body in the Latter Day Saint church established by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1832, and is the highest governing body of several modern Latter Day Saint denominations...

 and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy...

. After Smith's death
Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.
The death of Joseph Smith, Jr. on June 27, 1844 marked a turning point for the Latter Day Saint movement, of which Smith was the founder and leader. When he was attacked and killed by a mob, Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, and running for President of the United States...

 in June 1844, members of the Anointed Quorum continued to meet under the direction of Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

, even admitting additional persons to the group. As the Nauvoo Temple
Nauvoo Temple
The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons. The church's first temple was completed in Kirtland, Ohio, United States in 1836. When the main body of the church was forced out of Nauvoo, Illinois in the...

 neared completion during 1845, they prepared the building's upper floor for the administration of ordinances. Between December 1845 and February 1846, the Anointed Quorum extended the same rituals they had received from Smith to over 5,000 men and women living in the vicinity of Nauvoo.

After the Mormons left Nauvoo in 1846, the Anointed Quorum ceased to exist as an organized group. Apparently Smith organized the group to prepare the way for the general church membership to receive their temple ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple. Once this was done, the need for the group expired. The Anointed Quorum dealt essentially with spiritual and sacerdotal matters, but it was never an official administrative body of the church.

Members

The following individuals were members of the Anointed Quorum (spouses are listed together and plural marriage
Plural marriage
Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...

 relationships are indicated):
  • James Adams
    James Adams (lawyer)
    James Adams was a nineteenth century Illinois lawyer and close friend of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Biography:...

     and Harriet Denton Adams
  • Almon W. Babbitt
    Almon W. Babbitt
    Almon Whiting Babbitt was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement, a Mormon pioneer, and the first secretary and treasurer of the Territory of Utah...

  • Louisa Beaman (plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • John Milton Bernhisel
    John Milton Bernhisel
    John Milton Bernhisel was an American physician, politician and early member of the Latter-day Saint movement. He was a close friend and companion to both Joseph Smith, Jr. and Brigham Young...

  • Reynolds Cahoon
    Reynolds Cahoon
    Reynolds Cahoon was an early leader in Latter Day Saint movement and later, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was one of the inaugural members of the Council of Fifty, organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1844....

     and Thirza Stiles Cahoon
  • William Clayton and Margaret Moon Clayton
  • Alpheus Cutler
    Alpheus Cutler
    Alpheus Cutler was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement who served in several church positions under Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Jr...

     and Lois Thethrop Culter
  • Elizabeth Davis Durfee (plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • Harriet Page Wheeler Decker
  • Joseph Fielding
    Joseph Fielding
    Joseph Fielding was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement. He served as the second president of the British Mission , coordinating the activities of missionaries in sections of the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. He was the brother of Mary Fielding, the second wife of Hyrum Smith,...

     and Hannah Greenwood Fielding
  • Olive Grey Frost (plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • John P. Greene
    John P. Greene
    John Portineus Greene was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement.Greene was born in Herkimer, New York. He was a Methodist minister at Mendon, New York. He was friends with Heber C. Kimball and they claimed to witness "signs in the heavens" on September 22, 1827...

  • Charles Hyde
  • Orson Hyde
    Orson Hyde
    Orson Hyde was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...

     and Nancy Marinda Johnson Hyde (also a plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • Zina Dianatha Huntington Jacobs
    Zina D. H. Young
    Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Smith Young was an American social activist and religious leader who served as the third general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1888 until her death...

     (plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • Heber C. Kimball
    Heber C. Kimball
    Heber Chase Kimball was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement. He served as one of the original twelve apostles in the early Latter Day Saint church, and as first counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his...

     and Vilate Murray Kimball
  • Helen Mar Kimball
    Helen Mar Kimball
    Helen Mar Kimball was a wife of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Early life:...

     (plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • Joseph C. Kingsbury and Sarah Ann Whitney Kingsbury
    Sarah Ann Whitney
    Sarah Ann Whitney is alleged to have been a polygamous wife of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Early life:...

     (also a plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • William Law and Jane Silverthorne Law
  • Cornelius P. Lott
    Cornelius P. Lott
    Cornelius Peter Lott was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement, father of one of Joseph Smith's plural wives, a member of the Council of Fifty and a Danite leader.-Early life and marriage:...

     and Permelia Darrow Lott
  • Amasa M. Lyman and Mary L. Tanner Lyman
  • William Marks and Rosannah Robinson Marks
  • George Miller
    George Miller (Latter Day Saints)
    -External links:**...

     and Mary Catherine Fry Miller
  • Ruth Moon (plural wife of William Clayton)
  • Isaac Morley
    Isaac Morley
    Isaac Morley was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement and a contemporary of both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. He was one of the first converts to Smith's Church of Christ...

     and Lucy Gunn Morley
  • Fanny Young Murray

  • Joseph B. Noble and Mary A. Beaman Noble
  • John E. Page
    John E. Page
    John Edward Page was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement.Born in 1799 in Trenton, New York, Page was the son of Ebenezer and Rachael Page. He was baptized into the Church of Christ, established by Joseph Smith, Jr., in Brownhelm, Ohio in August 1833 by missionary Emer Harris, brother...

     and Mary Judd Page
  • Orson Pratt
    Orson Pratt
    Orson Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles...

  • Parley P. Pratt
    Parley P. Pratt
    Parley Parker Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1835 until his murder in 1857. He served in the Quorum with his younger brother, Orson Pratt...

     and Mary Ann Frost Pratt (also a plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • W. W. Phelps and Sally Waterman Phelps
  • Levi Richards
    Levi Richards
    Levi Richards was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a member of the Council of Fifty and Anointed Quorum and served as a physician for movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr. and others during the years the...

  • Willard Richards
    Willard Richards
    Willard Richards was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served as Second Counselor in the First Presidency to church president Brigham Young in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death.Willard Richards was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to...

     and Jennetta Richards Richards
  • Sidney Rigdon
    Sidney Rigdon
    Sidney Rigdon was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Baptist background:...

  • Lucy Decker Seely (plural wife of Brigham Young
    Brigham Young
    Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

    )
  • Sylvia P. Sessions (plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • Agnes Coolbrith Smith (plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • George A. Smith
    George A. Smith
    George Albert Smith was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as a member of the church's First Presidency.-Childhood:Smith was born in Potsdam, St...

     and Bathsheba W. Smith
    Bathsheba W. Smith
    Bathsheba Wilson Bigler Smith was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement. She was the fourth general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a matron of the Salt Lake Temple, a member of the Board of Directors of Deseret Hospital, Salt Lake...

  • Hyrum Smith
    Hyrum Smith
    Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....

     and Mary Fielding Smith
    Mary Fielding Smith
    Mary Fielding Smith Kimball was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement, the second wife of LDS Church leader Hyrum Smith and the mother of Joseph F. Smith....

  • John Smith and Clarissa Lyman Smith
  • Lucy Mack Smith
    Lucy Mack Smith
    Lucy Mack Smith was the mother of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. She is most noted for writing an award-winning memoir: Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations. She was an important leader of the movement during...

  • Joseph Smith, Jr. and Emma Hale Smith
    Emma Hale Smith
    Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was married to Joseph Smith, Jr., until his death in 1844, and was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, during Joseph Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...

  • Samuel H. Smith
  • William Smith
  • Eliza R. Snow (plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr.)
  • Orson Spencer
    Orson Spencer
    Orson Spencer was a prolific writer and prominent member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in several highly visible positions within the church and left an extensive legacy of theological writings...

     and Catherine Curtis Spencer
  • John Taylor and Leonora Cannon Taylor
  • Mercy Fielding Thompson
  • Newel K. Whitney
    Newel K. Whitney
    Newel Kimball Whitney was a prominent leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an American businessman. He served as Bishop of Kirtland, Ohio, Far West, Missouri, and Nauvoo, Illinois. He also served as the second Presiding Bishop of the Church from 1847 until his death...

     and Elizabeth Ann Smith Whitney
  • Lyman Wight
    Lyman Wight
    Lyman Wight was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the leader of the Latter Day Saints in Daviess County, Missouri in 1838. In 1841, he was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr...

  • Wilford Woodruff
    Wilford Woodruff
    Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...

     and Phoebe Carter Woodruff
  • Lucien Woodworth and Phebe Watrous Woodworth
  • Brigham Young
    Brigham Young
    Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

     and Mary Ann Angell Young
  • Joseph Young
    Joseph Young
    Young was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, the eighth child born to John Young and Abigail Howe.In 1830, while he was a preacher for the Methodist Church in Upper Canada, Young was introduced to the Book of Mormon by his younger brother Brigham...

    and Jane A. Bicknell Young
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