Canon Wilberforce's healing through anointing and prayer
Published October 6, 2026 at 6:11 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
Canon Wilberforce, suffering from a distressing internal ailment that surgeons deemed incurable without a severe operation, was healed after he sent for Elders, who prayed over and anointed him, following the counsel in James 5:14-15.
In Their Own Words
“I can only say that my internal ailment was of such a nature that leading surgeons declared it to be incurable except at the cost of a severe operation, and while I was sojourning at the seaside to gain strength for the operation, the passage (St. James v, 14-15) was impressed with indescribable force upon my mind. I resisted it, and fought with myself against it for two months. I came up to London, and was again examined by the eminent surgeons, who insisted that I must undergo the operation; but the spirit pressure increased, until at last I sent for elders, full of faith, by whom I was prayed over and anointed, and in three weeks the internal ailment passed entirely away. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in mine eyes.”
— Canon Wilberforce, as quoted in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 51, No. 19
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 13 May 1889 (Vol. 51, No. 19). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1889-05-13_51_19 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, 13 May 1889 (Vol. 51, No. 19), p. 302 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1889-05-13_51_19
Related Miracles
Similar miracle types and stories from the 1880s.
Miracle of the Week
One remarkable, documented account in your inbox every Monday, drawn from the full archive.