Lorenzo Snow

Lorenzo Snow

Lorenzo Snow ( April 3, 1814 in Mantua , Ohio , † October 10, 1901 in Salt Lake City , Utah ) was the fifth prophet of the LDS Church from 1898 to 1901 . In his youth he studied theology with a focus on Hebrew and Old Testament and joined the Church in 1836. After that he devoted his entire life to the Church, serving as a missionary, apostle and prophet. During his brief tenure, he stabilized the Church's finances, expanded the number of missions, and began a new era in Church history through his reforms.

Life

On April 3, 1814, Lorenzo Snow was born as the son of Oliver and Rosetta Leonora Snow, b. Pettibone was born in Mantua, Portage County (Ohio) . Instead of doing an apprenticeship, he preferred academic studies. In 1835 he attended Oberlin College and in 1836 moved to Kirtland , Ohio, to study Hebrew with a rabbi. After hearing earlier about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he accepted the belief in Kirtland and was baptized. From 1837 he was in Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky and Illinois as a missionary for his new faith. In between he worked as a school teacher.

In May 1840 he was sent to England as a missionary, where he presided over the Church in and around London. On April 12, 1843, he arrived in Nauvoo with 250 converts. He then taught at a school in Lima, Illinois, and led the 1844 election campaign for Joseph Smith to be President of the United States.

In 1845 he married Charlotte Squires and Mary Adaline Goddard according to the polygamy then practiced in the Church. After moving from Nauvoo in 1846, he lived in Mount Pisgah, Nebraska , until 1848 , over which settlement he presided. Then he led a group of members to Salt Lake City . In 1852 he was elected to the Utah Territory House of Representatives and the following year Brigham Young sent him to northern Utah to preside over the Church there, the capital he named Brigham City .

Snow was prevented from exercising public office by the Edmunds Act of 1882, which banned polygamists from holding public office. Its tightening, the Edmunds Tucker Act of 1887, confiscated much of the Church's property. Because of his plural marriage, Snow was imprisoned from March 1886 to February 1887.

Apostle and President of the Church

Lorenzo Snow was ordained an apostle by Heber C. Kimball on February 12, 1849, and sustained as a counselor to Brigham Young on April 8, 1873 . When the First Presidency was reestablished with Wilford Woodruff as President of the Church in October 1880, Snow became President of the Quorum of the Twelve . He served as President and Prophet of the Church from the death of Wilford Woodruff from September 13, 1898 until his death on October 10, 1901 in Salt Lake City. He was the first President of the Church to no longer lead the Church as President of the Quorum of the Twelve, but, by divine command, he said, promptly reorganized the first presidency. Since then, this has always been done after the death of the Prophet.

As an apostle, Snow served a mission in Italy from 1849 to 1852, where he had particular success among the Waldensians of the Piedmontese valleys. From England he directed the publication of the Book of Mormon in Italy, Switzerland and Malta at that time. In 1864 he served a two-month mission to the Hawaiian Islands under the direction of Ezra T. Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve. In 1872/73 he toured parts of Europe and the Middle East, including Palestine, on behalf of Brigham Young together with a group led by George A. Smith, counselor in the First Presidency. In 1885 he completed several missions among the Indo-Americans in the northwestern United States. He served as the first president of the Salt Lake Temple from May 1893 to September 1898 .

In the memory of the members, Lorenzo Snow lives on primarily because he reaffirmed the law of tithing in St. George in May 1899, calling on the members as a whole to faithfully tithing and promising them blessings in return. This is also shown in a self-produced short film that is widely used in the church. The call to pay tithing was the first step in leading the Church out of its financial plight.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Church Almanac 2007, p. 51, Deseret Morning News 2006
2. ↑ Teachings of Presidents of the Church, Lorenzo Snow, pp. XI - XIII, Intellectual Reserve 2012, also on the Internet [1]
3. ↑ Church Almanac 2007, p. 51, Deseret Morning News 2006
4. ↑ Teachings of Presidents of the Church, Lorenzo Snow, pp. XIV - XV, Intellectual Reserve 2012, also on the Internet [2]

predecessor	Office	successor
Wilford Woodruff	President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints 1898 - 1901	Joseph F. Smith