Comments on: Of healings, canes, and gardens

By: prostata leczenie

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By: Ben Pratt

Ben Pratt — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:31:28 +0000

Outstanding post and discussion. My hat is off to you, J.

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:21:36 +0000

Thanks Robin. I’ll fix it in the post.

By: Tracy M

Tracy M — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:14:05 +0000

I’ve been looking forward to this since Nauvoo. Thanks J.

By: Robin Jensen

Robin Jensen — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:50:55 +0000

Excellent post, J. A minor difference: it’s a sprout, not a sprig.

By: SteveP

SteveP — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:45:24 +0000

A note to my descendants: If you make a cane out of my coffin ill-health will follow whosoever keeps it. It shall be called the curse of cane.

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:22:51 +0000

For those interested, Woodruff’s diary is an interesting context to the coffin canes (August 23, 1844):

…I visited Emma Smith the widow of the prophet. She let me have a peace of oak for a Staff [graphic] out of the [graphic] Coffin of the Prophet Joseph who was inhumanly martered in Carthage Ill in company with his brother Hiram… We called upon Sister Mary Smith widow of Hiram Smith the Patriarch. She gave us some hair from the head of Joseph Smith, Hiram Smith, Samuel Smith, & Don Carloss Smith, all brothers of the same Parents. I also obtained some hair of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. My object was in putting a portion of each in the top of my staff as a relick of those noble men, master spirits of the nineteenth centaury, to hand down to my posterity, to deposit in the most Holy and Sacred place in the Holy temple of GOD, on the consecrated Hill of Zion.

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:22:38 +0000

Nice. In a quick look, I also found some pre-1840 British references to the legend as decidedly apocryphal. To be sure a systematic search is necessary, but the idea that the Tree of Life forestalls mortality isn’t something that is particularly unique to this legend (it is rather essential to the foundational narrative). The garden was one of the most potent ideas in Joseph’s religion [queue Sam]. The diary I cited (early 1847) is the earliest example of cane healing of which I am aware. The question is what drove these people to use first this cane and then the coffin canes to heal. It is my, albeit preliminary, reading that Mormons in Nauvoo would not have needed to reach for the “Legend of the True Cross.” And right now there is no evidence that they did (though it is possible that some does exist).

Note as well, that Joseph Smith viewed the Nauvoo temple to be a special space for physical healing, an idea that was conserved in Utah temples into the twentieth century.

The tree within the canvas walls of the Nauvoo Garden was ordinary and profane, yet was made sacred in the Saints holy drama. Two years earlier they had made canes from Joseph’s coffin. in 1846 as they left, it appears that they did the same for at least one of its branches.

By: Jonathan Green

Jonathan Green — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:45:40 +0000

Well, Jonathan, yes, but then there’s the question why early saints would think that the Tree of Life from the temple would have healing properties. Assuming that the cane was made from one of those potted plants, where does the idea of using it for healing come from? The similarities to the medieval legend are still pretty close.

Whether or not the early saints knew about the story is another matter. It’s certainly possible. As my final contribution to the topic, here’s a link to pp. 327-328 of Freemasons Quarterly Magazine, March 1850: http://books.google.com/books?id=UPcDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA328&dq=temple+seth+%22tree+of+life%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1850&as_brr=3

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:22:49 +0000

That has to be one of the coolest family heirlooms. Imagine the conversations over the generations: “Its my turn to host the cane. You had it five years ago, and it is starting to be flu season!”