Lightning strike causes Angel Moroni replacement to step in atop a Latter-day Saint temple

Several months ago, lightning struck the Angel Moroni statue atop the Star Valley Wyoming Temple.

On Monday, workers replaced the damaged statue with a fresh one, the Star Valley Independent reported .

The damaged statue was just doing its job .

The Angel Moroni statues that rise on steeples above many temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are equipped with lightning rods.

They literally are designed to attract lightning strikes away from other parts of the temples, including the electrical systems, the Deseret News reported in an in-depth article in 2016.

“The angel Moroni statues get hit by lightning all the time,” Tyler Wilson, director of special projects at Okland Construction, told the Deseret News in 2009 when the statue on top of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple had to be replaced because of a lightning strike.

“There’s a misunderstanding that such strikes are rare, but that’s not the case at all,” Wilson said.

The recent damage to the temple in Afton, Wyoming, was minimal.

It “blackened part of the backside,” of the temple, Star Valley Wyoming Temple President Kirk Hathaway told SVI News. “You can hardly tell where it is unless you’re looking for it. Our temple facilities manager … noticed there was blackening on it, and so it was determined … that we should replace it.”

The job took four hours, according to the report.

The church has backup statues ready to replace damaged ones.

Workers repair the damaged statues so they can return to their dual role of protecting the temple and serving as a symbol.

Lightning strikes are rare for the statue on top of the Salt Lake Temple because it isn’t the tallest building in downtown, the Deseret News reported this spring.

It was an earthquake that damaged the original Angel Moroni made by Cyrus Dallin. The January 2020 quake knocked the trumpet from the angel’s hand and accelerated plans to remove the statue and the capstone on which it stands on May 18, 2020.

Restorationists used its temporary absence to improve the way the horn is attached so that it will not fall again. Workers also removed a small amount of rust from the metal armature inside the statue. The metal is covered by thin-gauge copper and topped with new 14-carat gold leaf.

A crane lifted it back into place in April after a four-year absence.

“The statue is in incredible condition,” said Emily Utt, a Church Historic Sites curator.