After lunch Council [of the Twelve Apostles] reassembled at 1:55 [p.m.] and there met with the Council Elder Eldred G. Smith who had been sustained at the [General] Conference as Patriarch to the Church; also the brethren of the Presiding Bishopric. These brethren had upon invitation joined the brethren of the Council in lunch. President [George Albert] Smith stated that the purpose of this meeting was to ordain and set apart Elder Eldred G. Smith as Patriarch to the Church and also Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin as first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric and Thorpe B. Isaacson as second counselor. President Smith then gave the following charge to Brother Elder G. Smith and Bishops Joseph L. Wirthlin and Thorpe B. Isaacson of the Presiding Bishopric: 'Brethren, we have come together for the purpose of ordaining and setting apart the brethren who have been sustained already by the vote of the Church. I thought it would be nice to have it done this morning, here where we can be quiet, and my associates felt the same way. I would like the brethren to know that we are happy to have them here. 'I would like to say to Brother Eldred G. Smith: You are representing a long line of men who have held the Priesthood. You belong to a race that have been greatly honored by our Heavenly Father in being represented in the Church in high positions. Your great-great grandfather gave his life for the work of the Lord and was one of the grand men of the earth. He was as loyal and devoted to his younger brother, the Prophet Joseph Smith, as a man could possibly be.... In your father's day he was sustained as the Presiding Patriarch of the Church but the brethren concluded that that was not the proper title and it was changed to Patriarch to the Church. The patriarchs throughout the Church are local men who officiate within the boundaries of the stakes in which they live. The Stake Patriarch presides over the patriarchs in his stake. In your office of Patriarch to the Church, you are not confined to any ward, stake or district, but have authority to give blessings wherever desirable in all the world, but you have no authority to direct the labors of those brethren who are in the stakes.'
President George F. Richards asked permission to say something to the brethren which permission was granted and he made the following statement: ... The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve unitedly laid their hands upon the head of Brother Eldred G. Smith and President Smith was voice in ordaining him Patriarch to the Church.
[Source: Minutes, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835-1951, Electronic Edition, 2015]
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