Healing / Medical Reversal & Remission

Mary Goodliffe's miraculous healing from paralysis

Published October 12, 2026 at 6:35 AM

Contributed by

Millennial Star Research

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On the morning of September 11, 1897, Mary Goodliffe of the Snowville ward was suddenly stricken with paralysis of her entire right side. For over a week she was unable to move and was confined to a chair, needing to be lifted. The young ladies of the Y. L. M. I. A. fasted and prayed for her, held a meeting, and gathered at her home. Elders also visited and administered to her. After the prayers, singing, and administration, Goodliffe arose, walked around the room, and later walked into the yard, having recovered from her condition.

In Their Own Words

“Sister Mary Goodliffe of this ward was in her usual health on the morning of the eleventh of September, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven. A few moments later, while in conversation with the members of the family she was suddenly stricken with paralysis, being instantly paralysed. Over a week she remained unable to move to her in anyway, and was confined to her chair... The young ladies of the Improvement Association fasted the whole day, and before assembling in the evening, exercised their faith in behalf of the sufferer, and repaired to her home where she received them seated in a chair, to which she had been confined... Greetings having been exchanged, they gathered around the sufferer and each in turn offered to God a fervent prayer for the recovery of their beloved sister to health... The girls feelingly rendered that it is 'God who heareth,' and after the service was over, Sister Goodliffe arose, and with a helping hand, walked all around the room, and later in the evening she walked out into the yard. The girls were almost overcome with gladness, when they realized that the Lord had heard them and some of the divine influence which always follows such faith was present. — Millennial Star 60:3”

Sources & References

The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 9 no. 1 (January 1898). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/24264 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 20 January 1898 (Vol. 60, No. 3). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1898-01-20_60_3 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Complete account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 60,…

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