Rey Pratt
Encyclopedia
Rey Lucero Pratt served The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 23 years as president of its Mexican Mission
and for six years as a general authority
. Pratt helped establish the church in Mexico
and among Spanish-speaking
populations in the United States
and Argentina
. He also translated LDS Church materials into Spanish, wrote magazine articles and spoke regularly at general conference
.
Pratt has at times been called the father of the Mexican mission.
, the fourth child and second son of Helaman Pratt
and Emmeline Victoria Billingsley Pratt. When Rey was nine, the Pratts moved to Mexico to help settle Colonia Dublán
, a Mormon colony
in the northern state of Chihuahua. Rey grew up in Mexico, learning to appreciate its history and people.
.
Orson F. Whitney
set Pratt apart as a missionary
on 4 October 1906. On 1 November, Pratt arrived by train in Mexico City
and reported to the mission home. He served for nearly a year under President Hyrum S. Harris, during which he presided over the Toluca
conference for seven months. Then, on 25 August 1907, Harris announced that Pratt would replace him as President
of the Mexican Mission. Harris set Pratt apart on 29 September and the Pratts moved to Mexico City
shortly thereafter.
Church membership in Mexico
more than doubled during Pratt's first six years as mission president. By 1911, over a thousand Church members lived in the Mexican Mission.
However, Mexico’s political climate gradually worsened. Porfirio Diaz
, Mexico’s longtime dictator, lost control of the government and revolution ensued. Shortly after serious fighting began in Mexico City
in 1913, the First Presidency
authorized the Pratts and the American missionaries to return to the United States
. The Pratts moved to Salt Lake City in September 1913. Two years later, the First Presidency again instructed the Pratts to move, this time to Manassa, Colorado
, and establish missionary work among Mexicans in the United States. After five years, in November 1918, Church leaders moved the mission headquarters to El Paso, Texas
, making it closer to the center of the vast mission territory.
In March 1921, Pratt reopened missionary work in Mexico with eight missionaries. In November, jurisdiction of the Juárez Stake in Chihuahua was transferred to the Mexican Mission. This made Pratt president of all the Spanish-speaking organizations in the Church. He continued to expand the mission, opening up work in southern California
in 1924 and establishing a Los Angeles
branch.
announced that Apostle Melvin J. Ballard
and Seventy Rulon S. Wells would go with Pratt to establish the LDS Church in South America
. Pratt translated for the group. The three boarded the ship Voltaire on 14 November 1925 in New York City. The Voltaire stopped in Barbados
, Rio de Janeiro
and Montevideo
en route to Buenos Aires
, Argentina
. The ship arrived at Buenos Aires on 6 December; the three disembarked at seven in the morning and immediately set to work.
In their first week in Argentina, the missionaries baptized six people who had been awaiting their arrival. They also held their first sacrament meeting. They expected to have continued success among the German and Italian
immigrants, but the work soon became much more difficult. After a few weeks of hardships, the missionaries shifted their attention to the Spanish-speaking areas of Buenos Aires. They preached mostly in those areas until their departure for the United States in July 1926.
. The Mexican government had decided to enforce the 1917 Constitution by prohibiting foreign-born ministers from holding authority in Mexico. Despite being prohibited from acting in an official capacity, Pratt continued to attend Church meetings in Mexico.
The final years of Pratt’s life were busy, and the constant traveling gradually wore him down. Just after the April 1931 General Conference, Pratt stayed in Salt Lake City to undergo a hernia
operation. While recovering in the hospital, Pratt experienced complications. His condition quickly deteriorated, and he died on 14 April 1931. He left behind his wife and ten living children. On 17 April, hundreds of people filled the Salt Lake Assembly Hall
at Temple Square
for Pratt’s funeral. President Heber J. Grant and other General Authorities spoke at the service. They expressed regret that Pratt had not lived to see the Church grow large in Mexico.
Pratt was also responsible for translating many of the hymns of the church into Spanish. The only other person who did a considerable amount of this work was Eduardo Balderas
.
Missions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...
and for six years as a general authority
General authority
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a general authority is a member of certain leadership organizations who are given administrative and ecclesiastical authority over the church...
. Pratt helped establish the church in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and among Spanish-speaking
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
populations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. He also translated LDS Church materials into Spanish, wrote magazine articles and spoke regularly at general conference
General conference (Mormonism)
In the Latter Day Saint movement, a general conference is a meeting for all members of the church for conducting general church business and instruction....
.
Pratt has at times been called the father of the Mexican mission.
Early life
Pratt was born in Salt Lake City, Utah TerritoryUtah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....
, the fourth child and second son of Helaman Pratt
Helaman Pratt
Helaman Pratt was an early leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico.-Family:...
and Emmeline Victoria Billingsley Pratt. When Rey was nine, the Pratts moved to Mexico to help settle Colonia Dublán
Colonia Dublan
Colonia Dublán began as a Mormon colony, located in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. It is now a part of Nuevo Casas Grandes. It is one of the few surviving Mormon colonies in Mexico .-History:...
, a Mormon colony
Mormon Colonies in Mexico
The Mormon colonies in Mexico are settlements located near the Sierra Madre mountains in northern Mexico which were established by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beginning in 1885. Many of the original colonists came to Mexico due to federal attempts to curb and...
in the northern state of Chihuahua. Rey grew up in Mexico, learning to appreciate its history and people.
Marriage
Rey and Mary "May" Stark were married on 8 August 1900 in the Church's Salt Lake TempleSalt Lake Temple
The Salt Lake Temple is the largest and best-known of more than 130 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the sixth temple built by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth operating temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo,...
.
Missionary to Mexico
ApostleApostle (Mormonism)
In the Latter Day Saint movement, an Apostle is a "special witness of the name of Jesus Christ who is sent to teach the principles of salvation to others." In many Latter Day Saint churches, an Apostle is a priesthood office of high authority within the church hierarchy. In many churches, apostles...
Orson F. Whitney
Orson F. Whitney
Orson Ferguson Whitney born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from April 9, 1906 until his death.-Early life:...
set Pratt apart as a missionary
Mormon missionary
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
on 4 October 1906. On 1 November, Pratt arrived by train in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and reported to the mission home. He served for nearly a year under President Hyrum S. Harris, during which he presided over the Toluca
Toluca
Toluca, formally known as Toluca de Lerdo, is the state capital of Mexico State as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. It is the center of a rapidly growing urban area, now the fifth largest in Mexico. It is located west-southwest of Mexico City and only about 40 minutes by car to the...
conference for seven months. Then, on 25 August 1907, Harris announced that Pratt would replace him as President
Mission president
Mission president is a priesthood leadership position in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . A mission president presides over a mission and the missionaries serving in the mission...
of the Mexican Mission. Harris set Pratt apart on 29 September and the Pratts moved to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
shortly thereafter.
Mission President
Pratt started as president of the Mexican mission in 1907.Church membership in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
more than doubled during Pratt's first six years as mission president. By 1911, over a thousand Church members lived in the Mexican Mission.
However, Mexico’s political climate gradually worsened. Porfirio Diaz
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...
, Mexico’s longtime dictator, lost control of the government and revolution ensued. Shortly after serious fighting began in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
in 1913, 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...
authorized the Pratts and the American missionaries to return to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The Pratts moved to Salt Lake City in September 1913. Two years later, the First Presidency again instructed the Pratts to move, this time to Manassa, Colorado
Manassa, Colorado
The Town of Manassa is a Statutory Town that is the most populous town in Conejos County, Colorado, United States. With a population of 1,042 at the 2000 census, Manassa is the largest community in Conejos County....
, and establish missionary work among Mexicans in the United States. After five years, in November 1918, Church leaders moved the mission headquarters to El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, making it closer to the center of the vast mission territory.
In March 1921, Pratt reopened missionary work in Mexico with eight missionaries. In November, jurisdiction of the Juárez Stake in Chihuahua was transferred to the Mexican Mission. This made Pratt president of all the Spanish-speaking organizations in the Church. He continued to expand the mission, opening up work in southern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 1924 and establishing a Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
branch.
Call as a General Authority
Pratt’s duties expanded further in January 1925, when church leaders called him to be a member of the seven-man First Council of the Seventy. He was surprised when the church leaders did not release him from his mission president duties, but he accepted both callings.Mission to Argentina
In the October 1925 general conference, Church President Heber J. GrantHeber J. Grant
Heber Jeddy Grant was the seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He was ordained an apostle on October 16, 1882, on the same day as George Teasdale...
announced that Apostle Melvin J. Ballard
Melvin J. Ballard
Melvin Joseph Ballard was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He was born in Logan, Utah Territory. His grandson, M. Russell Ballard, was also ordained an apostle.Prior to his birth, his mother had an experience that led her to believe...
and Seventy Rulon S. Wells would go with Pratt to establish the LDS Church in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. Pratt translated for the group. The three boarded the ship Voltaire on 14 November 1925 in New York City. The Voltaire stopped in Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
and Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
en route to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. The ship arrived at Buenos Aires on 6 December; the three disembarked at seven in the morning and immediately set to work.
In their first week in Argentina, the missionaries baptized six people who had been awaiting their arrival. They also held their first sacrament meeting. They expected to have continued success among the German and Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
immigrants, but the work soon became much more difficult. After a few weeks of hardships, the missionaries shifted their attention to the Spanish-speaking areas of Buenos Aires. They preached mostly in those areas until their departure for the United States in July 1926.
Later Mexican period
Pratt returned from South America to find Mexico caught up in another internal war, this time over the issue of separation of church and stateSeparation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
. The Mexican government had decided to enforce the 1917 Constitution by prohibiting foreign-born ministers from holding authority in Mexico. Despite being prohibited from acting in an official capacity, Pratt continued to attend Church meetings in Mexico.
The final years of Pratt’s life were busy, and the constant traveling gradually wore him down. Just after the April 1931 General Conference, Pratt stayed in Salt Lake City to undergo a hernia
Hernia
A hernia is the protrusion of an organ or the fascia of an organ through the wall of the cavity that normally contains it. A hiatal hernia occurs when the stomach protrudes into the mediastinum through the esophageal opening in the diaphragm....
operation. While recovering in the hospital, Pratt experienced complications. His condition quickly deteriorated, and he died on 14 April 1931. He left behind his wife and ten living children. On 17 April, hundreds of people filled the Salt Lake Assembly Hall
Salt Lake Assembly Hall
thumb|200px|right|Front entrance to the Assembly Hall with the [[Seagull Monument]] in foregroundthumb|200px|right|Inside Assembly HallThe Salt Lake Assembly Hall is one of the buildings owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the southwest corner of Temple Square in Salt Lake...
at Temple Square
Temple Square
Temple Square is a ten acre complex located in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . In recent years, the usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities immediately adjacent to Temple Square...
for Pratt’s funeral. President Heber J. Grant and other General Authorities spoke at the service. They expressed regret that Pratt had not lived to see the Church grow large in Mexico.
Pratt was also responsible for translating many of the hymns of the church into Spanish. The only other person who did a considerable amount of this work was Eduardo Balderas
Eduardo Balderas
Eduardo Balderas was the leading translator of Latter-day Saint scripture and other materials into Spanish. He served as the chief Spanish translator for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for almost 50 years...
.