Quorum, The

A specific group of church leaders and other church members in Nauvoo, Illinois, who received rituals, or ordinances, that were later performed in the Nauvoo temple. JS’s journal used the terms “council,” “quorum,” and “prayer meeting” to refer to these gatherings. At the time when the group was meeting, some participants consistently referred to it as “the quorum.” The first such meeting, held in May 1842, marked the introduction of the endowment ordinance in Nauvoo. The group organized more formally at its 28 September 1843 meeting, with JS “by common consent. & unanimous voice chosen presid[e]nt of the quorum.” Before this time, the council met infrequently and at first included only men. Thereafter, meetings became more frequent, and both men and women regularly participated, receiving temple-related instruction and ordinances. Because these gatherings included ritual prayer, they also came to be referred to as prayer meetings. After ordinances began to be performed in the temple, the group gathered mainly for prayer. A later compilation of the group’s meetings, extracted from JS’s journal, was labeled “Meetings of anointed Quorum,” but there is no evidence that this title was used during JS’s lifetime. The group was also later referred to as the “holy order.” See also “” and “.”