Orson F. Whitney's Healing of Rheumatic Arm
Published October 13, 2026 at 6:05 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
After baptizing Mrs. Reese, Elder Orson F. Whitney developed severe rheumatic pain in his arm. Although he initially used liniment, he later felt he should have used consecrated oil. After a day of continued pain and inability to move his arm, he anointed his arm with holy oil, prayed, and turned the arm. The pain was gone instantly.
In Their Own Words
“I had been suffering for several days with a severe attack of rheumatism in my right arm. It was so painful that I could not use it, and I had been carrying it in a sling. I had been using liniment, but it did not seem to do any good. One evening, while sitting in my room, the thought came to me: 'Why do you use liniment? Why not use the holy oil?' I felt ashamed of my lack of faith. I had been baptizing Mrs. Reese, and had been so busy with my missionary labors that I had neglected to seek the Lord for my own healing. I immediately went to my trunk, took out the bottle of consecrated oil, and anointed my arm. I then knelt down to pray, and while in the act of prayer, I turned my arm squarely over. The pain was gone. Not a vestige of it remained. I was perfectly healed.”
— Orson F. Whitney, Through Memory's Halls: The Life Story of Orson F. Whitney As Told by Himself
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 2 March 1905 (Vol. 67, No. 9). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1905-03-02_67_9 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: Orson F. Whitney, Through Memory's Halls: The Life Story of Orson F. Whitney As Told by Himself (Independence, MO: Zion's Printing and Publishing, 1930), 84-85. https://archive.org/details/throughmemorysha00whit/page/84/mode/2up
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