Bautista, Margarito, 1878-1961

Person

Staff Only

Dates

Existence: 1878 - 1961

Biography

Margarito Bautista Valencia (1878-1961) was a Mexican fundamentalist.

Margarito Bautista was born on June 10, 1878 to a bilingual (Nahua and Spanish) peasant family in the San Miguel de Atlautla, Mexico State. In the summer of 1901, Margarito Bautista was visited by two Latter-day Saint missionaries as he lay in his bed ready to die. They gave him a blessing and shortly his health improved. After a few weeks, he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In 1913, Bautista moved north to Arizona and then Utah to flee the Mexican Revolutionary War. From 1922-24, Bautista served as a Latter-day Saint missionary in central Mexico, and then returned to live in Mexico in 1935. In 1936, Bautista was a candidate for the Mexican Mission Presidency under the Third Convention (he later withdrew his name). He fell away from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and eventually the Third Convention, and organized his own congregation, The Fullness of the Kingdom of God. As the leader, he wrote many pamphlets and proselytized to gain members. The colony went through episodes of alignment with several other Mormon fundamentalist groups, but in the end kept to themselves and built a temple. The group still exists as of 2014, with over a thousand members. Margarito died at the age of 83 in 1961.

Citation:

Primitive revolution: restorationist religion and the idea of the Mexican Revolution, 1940-1968, via WWW, April 7, 2014 (born on June 10, 1878; bilingual; visited by two missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; moved north to Arizona; served as a missionary; candidate for the Mexican Mission Presidency under the Third Convention; fell away; wrote many pamphlets; died at the age of 83 in 1961.) (http://site.ebrary.com/lib/byuprovo/docDetail.action)

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Margarito Bautista papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSS 8426

Scope and Contents Collection contains materials pertaining to the life of Margarito Bautista and his church, La Plentitude del Reino de Dios. Includes his journals, his proselyting pamphlets, material from the third convention, material from the current La Plentitude del Reino de Dios church, pamphlets from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, journals from Alma de Olarte (his secretary), and a military handbook that was printed in 1920. Material from the current church includes meeting minutes....

Dates: 1920-1999

Found in: L. Tom Perry Special Collections

Nelson B. Wadsworth papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSS SC 1772

Scope and Contents

Handwritten notes on the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, photocopies of typewritten notes and letters from Margarito Bautista to John Butchereit, Church of the Firstborn tracts and the periodical, "Ensign" (1961-1965), one copy of "Mtn West" (1979) which contains an article on the John Singer family, and miscellaneous documents.

Dates: 1948-1964