Stokes Sounds Off: An Overview of Times When More Than One Apostle Was Called At the Same Time

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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

An Overview of Times When More Than One Apostle Was Called At the Same Time

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post now with a look at times when more than one apostle was called at the same time. As we know from articles in 2015, the Church had three vacancies to fill in April 1906, and George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, and David O. McKay were called. But that was an example where age did not determine the order of their ordinations, as Elder Whitney was the oldest, followed by Elder Richards, and with Elder McKay being the youngest.

The next time more than one apostle was ordained on the same day was in 1934, with Alonzo A. Hinckley and J. Reuben Clark being the ones involved. The interesting thing about that is that Clark had been serving as a counselor in the First Presidency, and apparently President Heber J. Grant felt it would be wise for President Clark to have apostolic seniority established.

9 years after that (in 1943), Elders Spencer W. Kimball and Ezra Taft Benson were ordained, becoming the first apostles ordained on the same day who would both go on to serve as Church president.

It would not be until 1984 that two apostles would be called at the same time, and only then-Elder Nelson was able to be ordained during the week following. Less than a month after that, then-Elder Oaks was ordained after completing his judicial obligations.

The Church would not call two apostles again until October 2004, when Elders Uchtdorf and Bednar were ordained on the same day, with Elder Uchtdorf being the oldest and the first ordained. And more recently, we saw in October 2015 that Elders Rasband, Stevenson and Renlund were called. The three in order of their ages were Elders Rasband, Renlund, and Stevenson.

And, as noted previously, this weekend will be the first time in Church history (unless I missed something) where a Solemn Assembly will be held in which two new members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are ordained. It is likely that the oldest of the two will be more senior. It will be interesting to see what happens in that regard. It is interesting that the last time apostles were called, there was more than one, and that this is true again now.

Depending on the ages of the two newest apostles, there may be a possibility that one of them could go on to serve as Church president. Hope this information is helpful to at least a few of you who read it. And unless I am mistaken, since none of the apostles are having age- or health-related difficulties, we may see this Quorum of the Twelve Apostles serve together for a number of years before another
 of their number passes away.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

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