A babe joins in the hosanna shout at the Kirtland Temple dedication
Published October 11, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
During the dedication of the Kirtland Temple on March 27, 1836, the congregation had strictly forbidden the attendance of small children. One woman, unaware of this rule, arrived with her infant—recorded in an eyewitness account by Benjamin Brown as being approximately two months old. Distressed and manifesting an anxious desire to enter, she remained at the door for some time. Eventually, one of the Elders, observing her, encouraged the assembly to exercise faith, stating, 'My faith is this child will not cry a word in the House today.' Upon this assurance, the woman and her infant were permitted to enter. True to the promise, the child remained completely quiet from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. When the congregation participated in the solemn Hosanna shout, the infant, who was nursing at the time, let go of its mother to join in the shouting. According to Brown’s account, the child shouted three times, pausing and resuming exactly in synchronization with the rest of the congregation before returning to its nursing without any alarm or crying.
In Their Own Words
“Sunday, March 27th, 1836, the order of the House of the Lord was, that there should be no small children admitted. One woman, however, not knowing the order, brought her child, about two months old. She was very much distressed, and manifested an anxious desire to enter. One of the Elders, seeing her, said, 'My faith is, that this child will not cry a word in the house to-day.' The woman and child entered, and the child did not cry a word from eight till four in the afternoon. But when the Saints all shouted 'Hosanna,' the child was nursing, but let go, and shouted also. When the Saints paused, it paused; when they shouted, it shouted, for three times. When they shouted 'Amen,' it shouted also for three times; then it resumed its nursing, without any alarm or crying.”
— Benjamin Brown, Testimonies for the Truth
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 30 May 1892 (Vol. 54, No. 22). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1892-05-30_54_22 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Additional sources (periodical research): Benjamin Brown, account of the Kirtland Temple dedication, c. March 1836, in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844, 2nd ed. (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2017), 356. https://byustudies.byu.edu/online-book/opening-the-heavens/a-pentecost-and-endowment-indeed-six-eyewitness-accounts-of-the-kirtland-temple-experience Full first-person account: Benjamin Brown, Testimonies for the Truth: A Record of Manifestations of the Power of God, Miraculous and Providential, Witnessed in the Travels and Experience of Benjamin Brown (Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1853), 12. https://archive.org/details/testimoniesfortr01brow
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