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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ5909250 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has had a presence in Italy since 1850.

History

19th century

During the October 1849 general conference, Brigham Young called Lorenzo Snow and Joseph Toronto to open missionary work in Italy. While en route to Italy, Snow called T. B. H. Stenhouse and Jabez Woodard to serve in the new mission. They arrived in Genoa on 25 June 1850, and Snow offered a prayer dedicating Italy to the preaching of the gospel and organized the Italian Mission on 19 September on a mountain peak near the city of Torre Pellice. On 27 October, Snow baptized the first convert. The first Italian-language edition of the Book of Mormon was published in London in 1852.

In 1853 a group of approximately 70 Waldensians, including men, women, and children left their homes in the Piedmont Valleys and migrated to Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, after being converted by Lorenzo Snow. These Waldensians maintained their cultural heritage, while passing on their mixture of Mormon and Waldensian faiths to their descendants. Their descendants still consider themselves both Mormon and Waldensian, and have met occasionally over the many decades to celebrate both heritages.

The mission closed in 1867, after everyone baptized had either migrated to Utah Territory or left the church.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy” as open-knowledge reference entry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Church, Jesus and Christ.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1850, 1849, 1852, 1853—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1850-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Church, Jesus and Christ providing the first useful test.
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Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5909250. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1850, 1849, 1852 and 1853.

Critical limits

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.