Living Faith

Today is BYU’s 148th birthday. Here are 9 quotes from Church leaders about its prophetic destiny

Brigham Young University, originally known as Brigham Young Academy, was founded Oct. 16, 1875

By Rachel Sterzer Gibson Oct 16, 2023 9:04 p.m. EDT

A campus sign at the entrance of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Living Faith

Today is BYU’s 148th birthday. Here are 9 quotes from Church leaders about its prophetic destiny

Brigham Young University, originally known as Brigham Young Academy, was founded Oct. 16, 1875

By Rachel Sterzer Gibson Oct 16, 2023 9:04 p.m. EDT

Brigham Young University, originally known as Brigham Young Academy, was founded on Oct. 16, 1875, by President Brigham Young.

In 1875, Karl G. Maeser, a prominent Utah educator and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was commissioned by the Prophet Brigham Young to go to Provo and establish an academy “in the name of the Church — a Church school.”

Several days after receiving his charge from President Young, Maeser visited the prophet at his office and told him, “I am about to leave for Provo, Brother Young, to start my work in the Academy. Have you any instructions to give me?”

The prophet, looking deep in thought, replied, “Brother Maeser, I want you to remember that you ought not to teach even the alphabet or the multiplication tables without the Spirit of God. That is all. God bless you. Good-bye” (“Karl G. Maeser: A Biography by His Son,” Provo, Brigham Young University, 1928, pp. 76–80).

Since its earliest days, prophets and leaders have shared direction and outlined the role of Brigham Young University in the world and in the Church. In honor of the school’s 148th birthday, here are nine quotes from Church leaders about BYU.

A portrait of President Spencer W. Kimball, 12th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

‘Education for Eternity’

“In all the world, the Brigham Young University is the greatest institution of learning. This statement I have made numerous times. I believe it sincerely. There are many criteria by which a university can be judged and appraised and evaluated. The special qualities of Brigham Young University lie not in its bigness; there are a number of much larger universities.

“It should not be judged by its affluence and the amount of money available for buildings, research and other facilities. It should not be judged by prestige, for there are more statusful institutions as the world measures status.

“The uniqueness of Brigham Young University lies in its special role — education for eternity — which it must carry in addition to the usual tasks of a university. This means concern — curricular and behavioral — for not only the ‘whole man’ but for the ‘eternal man.’ Where all universities seek to preserve the heritage of knowledge that history has washed to their feet, this faculty has a double heritage — the preserving of the knowledge of men and the revealed truths sent from heaven.”

— Address offered by Elder Spencer W. Kimball, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, on Sept. 12, 1967

Dedicatory prayer of the Provo Utah Temple

“Let that great temple of learning, the Brigham Young University, and all that is associated with it, and all other Church schools, institutes and seminaries be prospered to the full. Let thy enlightening power rest upon those who teach and those who are taught, that they may ‘seek learning, even by study and also by faith.’

“Bless us, O Lord, that we may ‘teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom,’ as thou hast commanded. May we do so with such diligence that thy holy grace shall attend, so that we may ‘be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God.’

“May those who teach and study in all academic fields have their souls enlightened with spiritual knowledge so they will turn to thy house for blessings and knowledge and learning that surpass all that may be found elsewhere.”

— Excerpt from the prayer offered by Church President Joseph Fielding Smith to dedicate the Provo Utah Temple on Feb. 9, 1972.

‘The Second Century of Brigham Young University’

Aerial view of the letter Y on the mountain in Provo, Utah.

“In a speech I gave to many of the devoted alumni of this university in the Arizona area, I employed a phrase to describe the Brigham Young University as becoming an ‘educational Everest.’ There are many ways in which BYU can tower above other universities — not simply because of the size of its student body or its beautiful campus but because of the unique light BYU can send forth into the educational world. Your light must have a special glow, for while you will do many things in the programs of this university that are done elsewhere, these same things can and must be done better here than others do them. You will also do some special things here that are left undone by other institutions.”

— Address offered by Church President Spencer W. Kimball on Oct. 10, 1975

‘Nailing Our Colors to the Mast’

BYU President Jeffrey R. Holland and his wife, Patricia Holland, speak at a campus devotional in September 1984. Photography by Mark A. Philbrick

“This year and every year we intend to have the best of all possible worlds at BYU. We intend to exercise every privilege and pursue every opportunity, but we will do it with discipline and with care, with attention to detail, with everyone helping, with no one compromising. We will nail our ‘colors to the mast’ and make gospel-centered education work because it has to work; any deviation from our prophetic heritage ‘would lead ... to disastrous results.’ We will, in this and every year ahead, reach out and reach up, explore all we can of the truth, and still safely land ﬁlled with greater learning and faith on this narrow strip of BYU soil under Y Mountain in Provo, Utah. We will do our work successfully — and some of it we will have to do with the whole world watching.”

— Address offered by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who was then serving as president of the university, on Sept. 10, 1985

Dedicatory prayer of the Provo City Center Temple

“We thank Thee for all of the righteous activities and occupations Thou hast caused to be established in this blessed valley, including the educational efforts of Brigham Young University, Utah Valley University and Thy missionary training center. We pray that Thou wilt bless all of these in their efforts to enlighten and motivate Thy children in Thy service.”

— Excerpt from the prayer offered by President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, then a member of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to dedicate the Provo City Center Temple on March 20, 2016.

Crowds emerge following the first session of the dedication for the Provo City Center Temple on Sunday, March 20, 2016.

‘Challenges to the Mission of Brigham Young University’

“[I] firmly believe that it is the destiny of Brigham Young University to become what those prophetic statements predicted it would become. But inherent in being the University of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the reality that this great goal will not be attained in exactly the same way that other universities have achieved their greatness. With your help, it will become the great university of the Lord — not in the world’s way but in the Lord’s way.”

— Devotional offered by President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, then of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 21, 2017

‘The Second Half of the Second Century of Brigham Young University’

“It seems clear to me in my 73 years of loving it that BYU will become an ‘educational Mt. Everest’ only to the degree it embraces its uniqueness, its singularity. We could mimic every other university in the world until we got a bloody nose in the effort, and the world would still say, ‘BYU who?’ No, we must have the will to be different and to stand alone, if necessary, being a university second to none in its role primarily as an undergraduate teaching institution that is unequivocally true to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

— Address offered by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the university conference on Aug. 23, 2021

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, right, visits with his wife, Sister Mary Cook, and Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a General Authority Seventy, during the University Conference at BYU.

‘Preparing Students for Eternity’

“Our purpose, in addition to knowledge and education, is to prepare students for eternity. If we are going to use ‘the light of Christ’ to ‘lay hold upon every good thing,’ these purposes of Christ’s restored Church must not just be understood but exhibited in all of our lives.”

— Address offered by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the university conference on Aug. 28, 2023

‘Becoming BYU’

“Our task, I submit, is to claim in our day the prophecies of the past. Our task is to become the university that prophets have foretold — to become the world’s ‘greatest institution of learning’ and ‘the fully anointed university of the Lord about which so much has been spoken in the past’ and to become the BYU of prophecy and promise.”

— The inaugural response of BYU President C. Shane Reese on Sept. 19, 2023