Mormon Sacrament Cups
Joseph Greaves influenced the religious practices of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--the Mormon Church. Previously the church partook of the communion sacrament using a common cup which was passed around the congregation. Dr. Greaves thought that a shared cup could spread disease and urged the church to change to the use of individual cups. Because germs were not widely understood, he met resistance, but he persisted and was able to effect the change.
"When I was growing up, I heard this story many times from my grandfather, Joseph E. Greaves, a professor of bacteriology at the Agricultural College of Utah, now Utah State University. The moral to the story shifted, depending on the lesson Granddad wanted to stress, but the story itself was always the same. The event takes place in Logan, Utah, in the early 1900s.
One Sunday, Granddad sat in church, toward the back. He watched the young deacons pass the cup of sacrament water down the row, each person taking a tiny sip and passing it on. He knew Sister Brown sitting in front of him had tuberculosis. After the meeting, Granddad went to see the Bishop and explained how unsanitary it was to have people drink from the same cup. He gave the Bishop a mini (or perhaps not so mini) lecture on bacteria. Germs are spread. Diseases are transmitted. “Brother Greaves,” the bishop huffed, “Do you really think that God would allow his sacred water, which has been blessed by the priesthood, to cause disease—to make people sick?” “Bishop” Granddad replied, “Do you really think that God would have given us brains if he didn’t expect us to use them?” Finally the bishop admonished my grandfather to go home and repent. Granddad’s reply to that suggestion was a resounding “Horse feathers.”
The story didn't end there. Granddad enlisted the aid of his friend and fellow scientist, Apostle John Widtsoe. The practice was changed. Individual cups replaced the common cup." (Menlove 2012)
"When I was growing up, I heard this story many times from my grandfather, Joseph E. Greaves, a professor of bacteriology at the Agricultural College of Utah, now Utah State University. The moral to the story shifted, depending on the lesson Granddad wanted to stress, but the story itself was always the same. The event takes place in Logan, Utah, in the early 1900s.
One Sunday, Granddad sat in church, toward the back. He watched the young deacons pass the cup of sacrament water down the row, each person taking a tiny sip and passing it on. He knew Sister Brown sitting in front of him had tuberculosis. After the meeting, Granddad went to see the Bishop and explained how unsanitary it was to have people drink from the same cup. He gave the Bishop a mini (or perhaps not so mini) lecture on bacteria. Germs are spread. Diseases are transmitted. “Brother Greaves,” the bishop huffed, “Do you really think that God would allow his sacred water, which has been blessed by the priesthood, to cause disease—to make people sick?” “Bishop” Granddad replied, “Do you really think that God would have given us brains if he didn’t expect us to use them?” Finally the bishop admonished my grandfather to go home and repent. Granddad’s reply to that suggestion was a resounding “Horse feathers.”
The story didn't end there. Granddad enlisted the aid of his friend and fellow scientist, Apostle John Widtsoe. The practice was changed. Individual cups replaced the common cup." (Menlove 2012)