Church History Matters 197 - Can Women Administer to the Sick? | Church History Matters I Women & Priesthood Series
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Mar 24, 2026 Lisa Olsen Tait, historian of Latter-day Saint women’s history, outlines how 19th-century women administered healing and bedside rituals. The conversation covers spiritual gifts, examples like Zina Huntington and Eliza R. Snow, temple and Relief Society practices, and shifting cultural and institutional responses to women’s healing roles.
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Shifting Definitions Of Priesthood Changed Women's Roles
- Early definitions of priesthood shifted from a people-group to an authority, changing how women's roles were framed in the church.
- By the 20th century priesthood increasingly meant male-held authority, which reframed prior practices where women acted under spiritual gifts.
Healing Was Part Of Female Spiritual Gifts
- Women in the early church were understood to receive gifts of the Spirit, including healing, which intertwined with everyday caregiving.
- Healing practices intensified after the Kirtland Temple dedication and were seen as expressions of spiritual power, not strictly priesthood offices.
Zina Young's Vivid Encounter With Spiritual Gifts
- Zina Diantha Huntington Young described receiving the gift of tongues and later became a prolific healer with spiritual and practical remedies.
- She vowed never to 'check' the gift again after losing and regaining it, then practiced healing throughout her life.