MORMONI. – Protestant sect established in the United States in the 19th century. They are also called Latter-day Saints (Latter-day saints) or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I. THE FOUNDER. - Giuseppe Smith, born in 1805 at Sharon (Vermont), died in 1844 at Carthage. His family moved to Palmyra (New York) in 1815, and in 1820, on the occasion of one of those “revivals” that periodically shake the American Protestant world, part of it became Presbyterian and part Methodist. Smith relates that two angels warned him not to embrace any sect and to await the discovery of the golden plates on which he would find the new religion. He discovered them in 1827 on the Hill of Comorah (four miles from Palmyra), and with them he found the two stones “Urim and Thummin,” necessary for interpreting the strange characters in which they were written. Once the interpretation was completed (1830), it was printed under the title The Book of Mormon. With a few others who believed in his revelations, Smith formed the first nucleus of the new Church, aided by Sidney Rigdon, who gave great impetus to the new sect.
This presented itself as the religion of an elect and holy people, chosen to convert the world in the last days before the coming of Christ, from whom, through its leader, it received special guidance, and it regarded all other men as “Gentiles.” With these doctrines
the Mormons made themselves hated by everyone; to escape persecution, they emigrated to various places in Ohio and Missouri from 1831 to 1839, and finally settled in Illinois in 1840, where they founded the town of Nauvoo. There they erected a fine temple, and Smith proclaimed the new doctrine revealed to him of “celestial marriage,” that is, polygamy. The peoples living near Nauvoo, who had initially received them favorably, persecuted them violently because of the new doctrine of polygamy and the system of theocratic government, eventually massacring their founder and his brother Hyrum in the prison at Carthage (Illinois) in 1844.
**II. THE BOOK OF MORMON (The Book of Mormon).** - It is a collection of various books, divided into chapters and verses as in the Bible. It seeks to explain the descent of the Americans from the Hebrews. After the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel, the descendants of Jared emigrated to America, but because of their wickedness God permitted many wars and public calamities, and almost all of them disappeared around 600 B.C. At this same time, however, the prophet Lehi of the tribe of Manasseh, warned by God of the impending destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, came with other Jews to America, where he found the last remnants of the Jaredites. After Lehi’s death, dissensions arose between his two sons Nephi and Laman, who separated. The Nephites remained faithful to Yahweh, but the Lamanites did not, and from them the American Indians are descended. The Nephites were visited by Jesus Christ himself, who came to America during his mortal life. Two or three centuries A.D., the Nephites also fell into transgression and were destroyed by the Lamanites. Their last prophet and patriarch was Mormon, who wrote the history of his people on golden plates and gave them to his son Moroni. The latter hid them on the Hill of Comorah, where Smith found them together with the two stones Urim and Thummin necessary for their interpretation.
No one ever saw the famous golden plates. Smith interpreted the plates behind a curtain, so that his secretary Oliver Cowdery could not see them. Once the interpretation was completed, the plates were hidden by an angel. The true story seems to be this: a Presbyterian, one Solomon Spaulding, had set out to write a novel on the origin of the Americans, making them descend from the Hebrews. The manuscript was never published, but it came into the hands of a versatile preacher, first Baptist and then Campbellist (v. DISCEPOLI), Sidney Rigdon, who, after joining Smith, gave the manuscript biblical form and style, producing the Book of Mormon.
III. DOCTRINES AND GOVERNMENT. - The Book of Mormon, together with the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is, according to the Mormons, a complement to the Bible, which is therefore also one of their sacred books. The Doctrine and Covenants contains many revelations of Smith, among them that concerning polygamy, some of his successor Brigham Young, and various explanations and doctrines such as those of Orson Pratt, one of the first twelve Mormon apostles, who, sent to England to convert it, defended Mormonism and published his pamphlets in Liverpool from 1849 to 1851. The Mormons have their own Creed, quite simple, consisting of fourteen articles, but they omit what might most offend the gentiles.
Indeed, the first article states: « We believe in God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost », but does not add that, for them, the Father is flesh and bone, with the consequence that the Son and the Holy Ghost are merely emanations of the Father. In the fourth they admit Baptism, but say nothing about the Baptism of the dead, that is, the rite of being baptized on behalf of a deceased relative or ancestor, if he died a sinner or a gentile. Nothing is said about celestial marriage. Of the two marriages they profess, the earthly has no effect after death, whereas the celestial continues in the next life; according to this doctrine, a Mormon may contract as many celestial marriages as he wishes and may make use of them in both lives. The priesthood is divided into the priesthood of Melchisedec and that of Aaron. The former includes the president, who continues to receive revelations from God, the twelve apostles, the high priests, the seventy disciples, the elders, and the patriarchs; the latter, inferior to the former, includes the bishops, priests, teachers, and deacons. In Mormonism there are very many
who participate in one or other of these two priesthoods, and the organization is centralized and theocratic. Initiation (endocument = endowment), necessary for the priesthood of Melchisedec and for celestial marriage, takes place in the great temple of Salt Lake City (Utah), in a section accessible only to the initiated.
IV. THE MORMONS AFTER THE DEATH OF THE FOUNDER
After Smith’s disappearance, the entire Mormon movement was directed by Brigham Young, born in 1801 at Whitingham (Vermont). A Methodist, he became a Mormon in 1831 and in 1835 was admitted among the first twelve apostles of the new Church. His election as head of the Mormons and successor to Smith was opposed by some leaders, including Smith’s own son, who, after separating, founded the «Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints». Brigham understood that after the massacre at Carthage he could not remain in Illinois. After many hardships, from 1846 to 1848 he led the Mormons in emigrating toward Utah (which at that time still belonged to Mexico and which only in 1848, after the emigration had ended, passed to the United States through the Treaty of Guadalupe). In the arid desert of Utah, with indomitable energy he organized his refugees, founded the city of Salt Lake, encouraged polygamy (he himself had more than 20 «celestial wives»), defended himself against the influence of the «gentiles», and died in 1877. The organization, economy, and labor of the Mormons transformed the desert into a fertile and productive region. In order for it to enter the American Union as a State, the doctrine of polygamy had to be abandoned; but after the president of the Mormons declared that the Church renounced that doctrine, Utah became a State in 1896, although polygamy is still practiced among them, though no longer as openly as before. The Mormons have missions in various parts of the world and are also highly organized economically. The other sects have established missions among them, but with little success; nevertheless, they believe that the new generations, more educated and inclined toward criticism, will soon become aware of the enormous deception of the Book of Mormon. The Mormons number more than half a million, while those of the Reorganized Church do not reach 100,000.#### MORMORAZIONE : V. DETRAZIONE.