Patriarchal Blessings

The Bible and Book of Mormon describe ancient patriarchs who bestowed inheritances upon their posterity by giving them blessings. For example, Jacob blessed his grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh with special inheritances, and in his final moments, Lehi gathered his family together to pronounce blessings and prophesy about their future.¹ As directed by revelation given to Joseph Smith, early Latter-day Saints renewed the biblical practice of fathers blessing their children, sometimes calling these “patriarchal blessings.”²

Joseph Smith extended the ancient practice to involve ordained patriarchs, whom he sometimes referred to as “evangelical ministers” and who were designated to provide blessings to individuals whose fathers were no longer living or were not members of the Church. He taught that “the oldest man of the Blood of Joseph or of the seed of Abraham … should be a patriarch for the benefit of the posterity of the Saints as it was with Jacob in giving his patriarchal blessing unto his Sons.”³ This privilege first fell to Joseph Smith Sr., whom Joseph Smith ordained a Patriarch to the Church in Kirtland, Ohio, in December 1834.⁴ Joseph Sr. gathered family members together, pronounced blessings declaring their covenant lineage in the House of Israel, and sealed spiritual inheritances based on covenant promises. He soon began to pronounce blessings on Latter-day Saints beyond his family.⁵

During the months leading up to the dedication of the Kirtland temple, many Latter-day Saints received patriarchal blessings. They held large meetings during which several people received blessings from Joseph Sr., and they celebrated these occasions with feasts, music, and testimony.⁶ Though the practice of holding patriarchal blessing meetings diminished after the temple dedication, many Saints continued to invite Joseph Sr. (and later, other patriarchs) into their homes to receive special blessings.

Beginning in 1837, other patriarchs began to be ordained, and a distinction arose between the Patriarch over the whole Church and those patriarchs assigned to branches or stakes.⁷ After the death of Joseph Smith Sr., a revelation named Hyrum Smith the next Church Patriarch “by blessing and also by right,” and hereditary succession continued, with sons of Joseph Sr. and their descendants (with very few exceptions) serving as Patriarchs to the Church until Elder Eldred G. Smith was announced as emeritus without replacement in 1979.⁸ The calling of local patriarchs continues today.

In 1835, Oliver Cowdery began recording patriarchal blessings as scribe in a letter book. The Church has collected and archived patriarchal blessings ever since.⁹ A procedure developed in the early 20th century in which local leaders, usually bishops, recommended persons to patriarchs for a blessing, and patriarchs filed blessings with the Church. This effort continued despite significant Church growth and millions of blessings being processed. In 2015, the Church History Library launched a website that allows Church members to request copies of their patriarchal blessings and those of their deceased direct ancestors.

Church Resources

James E. Faust, “Patriarchal Blessings,” New Era, Nov. 1982, 4–7.

Dallin H. Oaks, “Priesthood Blessings,” Ensign, May 1987, 36–39.

“Patriarch,” josephsmithpapers.org.

“Patriarchal Blessings,” Church History Library.

Bibliography

The following publication provides further information about this topic. By referring or linking you to this resource, we do not endorse or guarantee the content or the views of the author.

Matthew C. Godfrey, “A Season of Blessings: The Function of Blessings in Kirtland, Ohio, 1834–1835,” Mormon Historical Studies, vol. 18, no. 1 (Spring 2017), 25–42.

Notes

1. See Genesis 48:8–21; 49:28; Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 50:24–38 [in the Bible appendix]; 2 Nephi 4:1–12.

2. “Blessing from Joseph Smith Sr., 9 December 1834: Historical Introduction,” josephsmithpapers.org; Jonathan A. Stapley, The Power of Godliness: Mormon Liturgy and Cosmology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), 59–75. See also James E. Faust, “Patriarchal Blessings,” (Brigham Young University devotional, Mar. 30, 1980), speeches.byu.edu.

3. “Discourse, between circa 26 June and circa 2 July 1839, as Reported by Willard Richards,” 22, josephsmithpapers.org; punctuation standardized.

4. See Topics: Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family, Joseph Smith Sr. Joseph Smith Jr. also gave several blessings he called “patriarchal blessings”; see “Blessing for James Ivins, 7 January 1840,” josephsmithpapers.org.

5. “Instruction on Priesthood, between circa 1 March and circa 4 May 1835 [D&C 107],” 85, josephsmithpapers.org. For more on the historical development of the office of patriarch, see Gary Shepherd and Gordon Shepherd, Binding Earth and Heaven: Patriarchal Blessings in the Prophetic Development of Early Mormonism (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012) and Irene M. Bates and E. Gary Smith, Lost Legacy: The Mormon Office of Presiding Patriarch (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996).

6. Bates and Smith, Lost Legacy, 38–39; Matthew C. Godfrey, “A Season of Blessings: The Function of Blessings in Kirtland, Ohio, 1834–1835,” Mormon Historical Studies, vol. 18, no. 1 (Spring 2017), 25–42.

7. Isaac Morley was the second patriarch and first to be assigned to a specific locale: Far West, Missouri (see “Minute Book 2,” 85, josephsmithpapers.org). The Church Patriarch was referred to both by the title “Presiding Patriarch” and “Patriarch to the Church”; see Edward L. Kimball, Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), 259; “The Sustaining of Church Officers,” Ensign, Nov. 1979, 18.

8. Doctrine and Covenants 124:91–96; “The Sustaining of Church Officers,” Ensign, Nov. 1979, 18. All but George F. Richards, who served as Acting Patriarch between 1937 and 1942, were descendants of Joseph Smith Sr.’s father, Asael Smith; see Bates and Smith, Lost Legacy, Appendix B: “Mormon Presiding Patriarchs.”

9. “Blessing from Joseph Smith Sr., 9 December 1834: Historical Introduction,” josephsmithpapers.org.