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The Turn of the Century: Lorenzo Snow

As the twentieth century dawned, Lorenzo Snow was sustained as Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and President of the Church of just over 250,000 Latter-day Saints-only a small fraction of what the Church's membership would be during the later twentieth century. Many of these early Saints had personally experienced the hardships of pioneering in the deserts and had suffered through the persecutions that had been so common in the nineteenth century. Some forty-three stakes and nineteen missions were functioning. Missionaries were teaching the restored gospel in the United States, Canada, western Europe, and the islands of the Pacific. Because about five out of every six Latter-day Saints lived in the predominantly Mormon Intermountain area of the western United States, however, the Church's influence elsewhere was limited. The Church's four temples were all located in Utah. The twentieth century would see The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expand far beyond these modest dimensions.

On Tuesday, January 1, 1901, the opening day of the new century, President Snow addressed a special New Year's Day audience in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Having played a key role

Missions and Stakes of the Church-U.S. and Canada, 1900

in the progress of the Church almost since its beginning, he now eagerly anticipated the future:

I hope and look for grand events to occur in the twentieth century. At its auspicious dawn, I lift my hands and invoke the blessings of heaven upon the inhabitants of the earth. May the sunshine from above smile upon you. May the treasures of the ground and the fruits of the soil be brought forth freely for your good. May the light of truth chase darkness from your souls. May righteousness increase and iniquity diminish as the years of the century roll on. May justice triumph and corruption be stamped out. And may virtue and chastity and honor prevail, until evil shall be overcome and the earth shall be cleansed from wickedness. Let these sentiments, as the voice of the "Mormons" in the mountains of Utah, go forth to the whole world, and let all people know that our wish and our mission are for the blessing and salvation of the entire human race. May the Twentieth Century prove the happiest as it will be the grandest of all the ages of time. 1

Although President Snow's hopes have not been fully realized even yet, he did see the Church take substantial strides toward achieving the strength needed to fulfill its worldwide mission.

Lorenzo Snow's Earlier Life

Lorenzo Snow was eighty-four years of age when he assumed the leadership of the Church. No other President had reached such an advanced age at the time of entering this office. President Snow's long life had been filled with experiences that prepared him for his prophetic call.

Although opportunities for formal schooling were quite limited in frontier Ohio, Lorenzo Snow loved to read and yearned for an education. After completing one term in high school, he attended Oberlin College, a nearby Presbyterian institution. Lorenzo Snow would be the first President of the Church to have had any college education. He taught school for a season in Ohio and would later organize the Polysophical Society to promote cultural refinement and learning among the early pioneers in Utah. This society was a forerunner of the Mutual Improvement Associations.